Let's say a control group scores 50% on a test and the experimental group scores 75%. Is that an increase of 25% (as 75 is 25 more than 50), or an increase of 50% (as 75 is 50% more than 50). My study had control group (n=46) score 59.7 (sd 13.1) and experimental group (n=44) scored 65.39 (sd 7.39), p=0.013 by paired t-test and anova. The maximum possible score was 75, so the control group score translated to 79.6% correct and the experimental group score to 87.2 (a difference of 7.6%). Paired t-test and anova p=0.013. My question is how to best characterize the improvement. The experimental group scored 5.69 points more, which was a 9.5% higher score compared to control group, which translated to 7.6% increase from 79.6% to 87.2%. Would you report this as 9.5% higher or 7.6% higher, or 5.69 points higher? Or would you state them all? If so, which would you state first?
Great. Thank you for the answer. I have another question. I am using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which gives values from 20-80. My experimental group had mean of 26.1, the control group had 29.6. Would that be a reduction of 26.1 divided by 29.6 (88% of the value, a 12% reduction), or can we consider that since 20 is the floor, the experimental group scored 9.6 above the floor and the experimental group scored 6.1 above the floor, giving a 37% reduction?
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