Question

Each of 20 consumers is provided with a pack- age containing two different brands of instant coffee. a week later, they are asked to rate the taste of each cof- fee on a scale of 1 (poor taste) to 10 (excellent taste). is this an example of independent samples or dependent samples?

Answer 1

These are independent samples because the score of one coffee does not affect the score of the other coffee.

If the consumers were comparing the coffees, they would be dependent (one is better or worse when compared to the other). In this case they are independent because rating one coffee a 10 has no effect on what they rate the other coffee.