In a study of perceptual thresholds, 10 people were shown 10 jars of water with

Question

In a study of perceptual thresholds, 10 people were shown 10 jars of water with different amounts of food coloring mixed in. They were asked to line up the jars so the jar with the least color was on the left, progressing to the jar with the most color on the right. The number of jars that were ordered incorrectly was recorded for each person. Most people ordered 0, 1, or 2 jars incorrectly and 1 person ordered all 10 jars incorrectly. The average number of incorrectly ordered jars was 1.9 with a variance of 8.77. A single sample t test was used to compare the average number of incorrect orderings against the null hypothesis that perception is perfect (0 incorrect orderings).
Why shouldn't you use a t test to analyze these data?
The assumption of normality is violated to a degree that the test is unlikely to be robust

Perceptual thresholds study
Explain/Justify your answer to the previous question.

Explanation / Answer

A t test should not be used in such a study because there is no specific hypothesis made by the reserachers to analyse any differences in perceptual thresholds among groups. Rather, it appears that the main aim of the study is to provide descriptive indicators of the sample under observation in terms of their perceptual thresholds and to what degree there are errors in them.

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