How to Perform a MANOVA in SPSS

In this example, we will look at a multivariate analysis of variance. The difference

between univariate and multivariate analyses is that a univariate analysis has only
one dependent variable (with any number of independent variables / predictors). A
multivariate analysis, on the other hand, has many dependent variables (again, with any
number of IVs). The goal of our analysis is to look for an effect of one or more IVs on
several DVs at the same time. Therefore, were going to use the familiar general linear
model command in SPSS, but choose a multivariate analysis.



This dataset has information about whether a person is in one of several different
experimental groups (group), and their scores on three different types of memory tests
(recognition, free recall, and cued recall). The difficulty level of each memory task is
also rated.

We will treat the three different memory tasks as different examples of a single
phenomenon (memory). Therefore, we will look at all three together as dependent
variables in our analysis.
A dialog box will appear. It should look very similar to the dialog box that weve been
using for the past two weeks (except that it says multivariate up here, instead).



Now, hit the Options button to go on.
In a multivariate analysis, you have more
than one DV, so you can select many DVs
and put them into this box together. In this
case, we have three different memory tests
and we want to test for an effect of the IV on
all three of them at once.

In the fixed factor box, put the predictor
that were looking at: experimental group
membership.
Again, this options dialog is very similar to the used in the univariate analyses.



Hit Continue, and then, back in the main dialog box, hit the Model button to go
on.
Click on the observed power button
to get the statistical power of the
multivariate tests.
Heres the model dialog box, again very similar to the one for univariate analyses.



As usual, you can use the default value of full factorial, or you can select just certain
variables to be included in the model.

Go back to the main dialog box, and hit OK to run the analysis.
The output has two segments. The first part gives you the results of the multivariate
tests.
Multivariate Tests
d

Effect
Value F Hypothesis df Error df Sig.
Noncent.
Parameter
Observed
Power
b

Intercept Pillai's Trace .947 249.681
a
3.000 42.000 .000 749.044 1.000
Wilks' Lambda .053 249.681
a
3.000 42.000 .000 749.044 1.000
Hotelling's Trace 17.834 249.681
a
3.000 42.000 .000 749.044 1.000
Roy's Largest Root 17.834 249.681
a
3.000 42.000 .000 749.044 1.000
group Pillai's Trace .464 2.683 9.000 132.000 .007 24.147 .940
Wilks' Lambda .592 2.737 9.000 102.368 .007 19.567 .864
Hotelling's Trace .597 2.698 9.000 122.000 .007 24.282 .941
Roy's Largest Root .326 4.777
c
3.000 44.000 .006 14.330 .874
a. Exact statistic
b. Computed using alpha =.05
c. The statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level.
d. Design: Intercept +group

As usual for these F-test results, ignore the section labeled Intercept.

These four numbers give you the p-values for the four different multivariate tests. These
results tell you if there is a significant effect of the IVs on all of the DVs, considered as a
group. If you are asked overall, is there a significant effect of something on some set of
variables, as a group, then you would run a MANOVA and look at these multivariate
tests for your conclusion.

Remember that theres no one single multivariate test; there are four different ones. In
this case theyre all significant (p <.05), so we can conclude that Group Membership did
have a significant effect on the three different memory variables.
Heres the second part of the results section. This gives univariate tests for the effects of
Group Membership on each of the different DVs. Think of this table as several F-test
tables, all stacked on top of one another. For instance, if you look at all of the rows with
blue print, you could put them all back together into a single F-table. You could do
similar re-arranging to get the individual F-tables for the other two variables.


Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Source Dependent Variable Type III Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Noncent.
Parameter
Observed
Power
b

Corrected Model
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 26000.229
a
3 8666.743 3.739 .018 11.217 .773
Cued Recall Test 17136.396
c
3 5712.132 3.343 .028 10.030 .721
Free Recall Test 8305.583
d
3 2768.528 3.687 .019 11.061 .767
Intercept
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 827662.688 1 827662.688 357.080 .000 357.080 1.000
Cued Recall Test 708831.021 1 708831.021 414.865 .000 414.865 1.000
Free Recall Test 572470.083 1 572470.083 762.408 .000 762.408 1.000
group
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 26000.229 3 8666.743 3.739 .018 11.217 .773
Cued Recall Test 17136.396 3 5712.132 3.343 .028 10.030 .721
Free Recall Test 8305.583 3 2768.528 3.687 .019 11.061 .767
Error
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 101986.083 44 2317.866



Cued Recall Test 75177.583 44 1708.581

Free Recall Test 33038.333 44 750.871

Total
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 955649.000 48

Cued Recall Test 801145.000 48

Free Recall Test 613814.000 48

Corrected Total
dime
nsion
1
Recognition Test 127986.313 47

Cued Recall Test 92313.979 47

Free Recall Test 41343.917 47

a. R Squared =.203 (Adjusted R Squared =.149)
b. Computed using alpha =.05
c. R Squared =.186 (Adjusted R Squared =.130)
d. R Squared =.201 (Adjusted R Squared =.146)

These cells (the shaded ones) are the ones were most interested in. These p-values tell
you that Group Membership had a significant effect on the results of the Recognition Test
(p =.018), the results of the Cued Recall Test (p =.028), and the results of the Free
Recall Test (p =.019).

Please note that the results in this table are not the results of a MANOVA. They are the
results of three separate univariate ANOVAs that are done as a step down analysis after
you ran the MANOVA. This is something like doing post-hoc tests after a significant
one-way F-test. The univariate results together do not add up to the multivariate test. If
the multivariate test is really what you are interested in, look at the first table of the
output instead. If the univariate tests are really what youre interested in, skip the
MANOVA and just do the three different univariate tests but you will need to do a
correction to your alpha level to control for inflated Type I error when doing multiple
tests!

MANCOVA in SPSS
Now lets go back to the main dialog box for the multivariate analysis, and add a
covariate to the model. The question here is does the effect of experimental group
membership on the three memory variables remain significant after controlling for the
item difficulty of the memory tasks? To do this test, enter test item difficulty as a
covariate.



Heres what the model dialog looks like. (Again, you can get the same result by
leaving the model on its default setting, full factorial).



You do have to leave the Sums of Squares setting on Type III, in order to get a test of
the effects of each variable after controlling for the effects of the others. (But thats the
default setting, so you dont actually need to do anything here).

Hit Continue, and then in the main dialog box, hit OK to run the test.
Here are the resultsagain, the first section shows you the results of the multivariate
tests (i.e., the effect of the various predictors on all of the memory tasks).

Multivariate Tests
d

Effect
Value F Hypothesis df Error df Sig.
Noncent.
Parameter
Observed
Power
b

Intercept Pillai's Trace .308 6.083
a
3.000 41.000 .002 18.250 .942
Wilks' Lambda .692 6.083
a
3.000 41.000 .002 18.250 .942
Hotelling's Trace .445 6.083
a
3.000 41.000 .002 18.250 .942
Roy's Largest Root .445 6.083
a
3.000 41.000 .002 18.250 .942
group Pillai's Trace .472 2.675 9.000 129.000 .007 24.078 .939
Wilks' Lambda .585 2.732 9.000 99.934 .007 19.523 .862
Hotelling's Trace .611 2.694 9.000 119.000 .007 24.242 .940
Roy's Largest Root .334 4.785
c
3.000 43.000 .006 14.354 .873
difficlt Pillai's Trace .016 .224
a
3.000 41.000 .879 .673 .089
Wilks' Lambda .984 .224
a
3.000 41.000 .879 .673 .089
Hotelling's Trace .016 .224
a
3.000 41.000 .879 .673 .089
Roy's Largest Root .016 .224
a
3.000 41.000 .879 .673 .089
a. Exact statistic
b. Computed using alpha =.05
c. The statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level.
d. Design: Intercept +group +difficlt

You can see that difficulty has been included in this model as a covariate. Again, look
at the multivariate test results, just in the rows for the IV called Group. Again, all four
multivariate tests are significant, so we can conclude that the effects of group membership
on the three memory tasks are still significant, even after controlling for the effects of test
item difficulty on peoples performance on the three memory tasks.


Congratulations! You have now completed a one-way multivariate analysis of
covariance, or MANCOVA. We use this term because we have:
--one nominal-level predictor (or fixed factor)
--many I/R-level DVs
--and an I/R-level predictor (as a covariate)




Paul F. Cook, University of Colorado Denver, Center for Nursing Research
Updated 1/10 with SPSS (PASW) version 18