A t-test is a statistical method used to determine if there is a significant difference between the means of two groups. It is commonly employed in hypothesis testing to assess whether the observed differences in sample data reflect true differences in the population. The t-test operates under the assumption that the data follows a normal distribution and is particularly useful when dealing with small sample sizes. There are different types of t-tests, including independent, paired, and one-sample t-tests, each serving specific research scenarios. Understanding t-tests is essential for conducting robust statistical analyses in various fields.