How to Report a t Test in APA 7

Problem

Writing only "the groups differed significantly" leaves out the design, degrees of freedom, p value, effect size, and direction.

Who should use this

Use this for papers, assignments, research reports, and SPSS result write-ups.

Formula and concept

Common APA fragment: t(df) = value, p = value, d = value.

Independent-samples t tests compare independent groups. Paired-samples t tests compare repeated or matched observations. Confirm the design before writing the result.

Use p = .032 style formatting, and write p < .001 instead of p = .000. Follow your course or journal rules for exact formatting.

This page helps with calculation and reporting, but users should still confirm their research design, assumptions, and statistical interpretation.

Step by step

1. Confirm whether the test is independent, paired, or one-sample.
2. Prepare group means, standard deviations, and sample sizes when needed.
3. Copy t, df, and p from the correct output row.
4. Add an effect size such as Cohen’s d and state the direction.

Worked example

Independent example: The experimental group (M = 82.40, SD = 7.10) scored higher than the control group (M = 76.30, SD = 8.20), t(58) = 3.07, p = .003, d = 0.79. Paired example: Posttest scores (M = 85.20, SD = 6.40) were higher than pretest scores (M = 78.10, SD = 7.50), t(29) = 5.12, p < .001, d = 0.93.

Common mistakes

• Using Levene p as the t-test p value.
• Omitting df or copying the wrong variance row.
• Writing p = .000 instead of p < .001.
• Not saying which group or time point was higher.

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