I have data on ATPase activity of two types of muscle at different concentrations of Ca 2+ and although the leg muscle seems to be more responsive than the flight i have to prove this statistically
I don't know whether my data is paired or not. I think that it is not paired and thhat i can use a wilcoxon test can you just tell me if i'm right?
Ca 2+ conc ATP activity for leg ATP activity for flight muscle
1.00E-09 0.048 0.044
1.00E-08 0.048 0.043
5.00E-08 0.052 0.049
1.00E-07 0.063 0.046
2.50E-07 0.069 0.049
6.50E-07 0.093 0.058
1.00E-06 0.113 0.064
1.00E-05 0.125 0.081
Please help
Thanks
Isa
To determine whether your data is paired or not, you need to assess whether each ATPase activity measurement in the leg muscle corresponds to a specific ATPase activity measurement in the flight muscle. If the measurements are matched or paired in some way, such as the measurements being taken from the same individual or under the same experimental conditions, then the data is paired. If there is no explicit pairing or matching between the leg and flight muscle measurements, then the data is considered unpaired.
Based on the information provided, it seems that the ATPase activity measurements for the leg and flight muscles are collected independently without being paired. Each concentration of Ca2+ has a separate ATP activity measurement for the leg muscle and the flight muscle. Therefore, your data is indeed unpaired.
Given that your data is unpaired, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, also known as the Mann-Whitney U test, would be appropriate for comparing the ATPase activity between the leg and flight muscles. This non-parametric test does not assume any underlying distribution and can be used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between independent groups.
To perform the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, you can use statistical software such as R, Python (with libraries like scipy or statsmodels), or even online calculators. The test will provide you with the p-value, which can be used to assess the statistical significance of the difference between the two groups.
Remember to state your null and alternative hypotheses before conducting the test. In this case, your null hypothesis (H0) would be that there is no difference in ATPase activity between the leg and flight muscles, while the alternative hypothesis (HA) would be that there is a difference.
By performing the Wilcoxon rank-sum test on your data, you can obtain statistical evidence to support or reject your hypothesis that the leg muscle is more responsive than the flight muscle.