# Determining the statistical significance of differences in a small dataset

What would be the best way of determining the statistical significance of the differences in concentration between trials of a dataset such as this one:

+-------+---------------+
| Trial | Concentration |
+-------+---------------+
|     1 | 2.41          |
|     2 | 8.43          |
|     3 | 3.48          |
|     4 | 6.22          |
|     5 | 4.66          |
|     6 | 3.58          |
+-------+---------------+


Would it be a t-test?

• Do you repeat each trial only once? – user12719 Feb 5 '13 at 19:03
• There are 3 repeats for each trial, from which an average concentration is determined in the table above. – Ben Feb 5 '13 at 19:04
• Do you still have the original data on the repeats, or is there a reason that the variances of the distributions must be a function of the mean? – gung - Reinstate Monica Feb 5 '13 at 19:23
• What are the different trials? Does one subject undergo each trial 3 times, so you have N = 6? Or are there more than one subject per trial? Or is N = 1 and he/she/it undergoes 18 trials (3 repeats of each of 6). – Peter Flom - Reinstate Monica Feb 5 '13 at 19:38
• The different trials are slight variations of the same theme. There are three identical repeats of each trial. The trials are entirely independent from one another in that the outcome of one will not affect the outcome of another in any way. – Ben Feb 5 '13 at 20:09