pH

Evidence: The soil pH from the two different conditions, the library location and the tree location, do not vary significantly. The p-value was greater than 0.05 which proves that the two data points are not statistically different. The pH from the two conditions varies slightly and are not statistically different from each other. The pH from soil sample one (the library) was 7.97 and the pH from soil sample two (the tree) was 7.98. Since there was only a 0.01 difference between the pH, it was very likely that the samples would not be statistically significant compared to each other and the t-test proved this. The p-value was 0.959 which is very high and greater than 0.05 which showed that the two points are not statistically significant. 

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the soil sample pH does not vary from each sample. The results of the t-test showed that the p-value was significantly greater than 0.05 which proves that the points are not statistically significant compared to each other. Since the confidence interval for the unpaired t-test assuming unequal variance was 0.05 and our p-value was 0.959, it can be determined with great confidence that the two sample’s pH are not statistically significant compared to each other since this value is significantly larger than 0.05. 

Explanation: The soil pH is most likely consistent throughout the garden which is why the two soil samples have the same soil pH. We collected our sample from two areas that were not being used to garden. This means that there were no factors that would alter the pH from the gardening conditions and could explain why the t-test showed that the soil pH was the same. Fertilizers can alter soil pH and since the two tested areas were not being used to garden, then there wouldn’t be any substances the garden was using to alter the soil pH. Rainfall can also alter the pH in soil and since it was raining the day of the soil collection, the pH could have altered slightly and were then therefore similar (Kluepfel & Lippert, 2012). All these factors could explain why the soil pH from the two different test conditions were the same.