A researcher compares pre-treatment and post-treatment fasting blood glucose levels in the same 30 patients after administering a new oral hypoglycemic agent. The differences are normally distributed. Which statistical test is most appropriate?

• A Independent samples t-test
• B Chi-square test
• C Mann-Whitney U test
• D Paired t-test ✓

Explanation

A paired t-test is used when measurements are taken from the same subjects before and after an intervention, analyzing the mean of the differences within each pair. The independent samples t-test would be used for two separate groups. Mann-Whitney U is non-parametric and unnecessary here since the differences are normally distributed. Chi-square is for categorical data.

Reference: Mahajan's Methods in Biostatistics, 9th ed.

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