Example of Comparing Matched Pairs

This example performs a matched pairs analysis to test the difference between two types of thermometers. The data contains temperature measurements on 20 people. Temperature is measured using two types of thermometers: oral and tympanic (ear). You want to determine whether the two types of thermometers produce equal temperature readings. Note that the differences in temperature between the different people are not important.

1. Select Help > Sample Data Folder and open Therm.jmp.

2. Select Analyze > Specialized Modeling > Matched Pairs.

3. Select Oral and Tympanic and click Y, Paired Response.

4. Click OK.

Figure 20.2 The Matched Pairs Report Window 

The results show that, on average, the tympanic thermometer measures 1.12 degrees higher than the oral thermometer. The small p-value (Prob > |t|) indicates that this difference is statistically significant, and not due to chance.

Note that this matched pairs analysis does not indicate which thermometer is correct (if either), but indicates only that there is a difference between the thermometers.