The Chi-Square Distribution and Test for Independence

HYPOTHESIS TESTING BETWEEN TWO OR MORE CATEGORICAL VARIABLES

Agenda
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Wrapping up the t-test program example Chi-Square and Chi-Square test of independence

Chi-Square Distribution
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The chi-square

distribution results when independent variables with standard normal distributions are squared and summed.

Chi-square Degrees of freedom

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df = (r-1) (c-1)

Where r = # of rows, c = # of columns Thus, in any 2x2 contingency table, the degrees of freedom = 1. As the degrees of freedom increase, the distribution shifts to the right and the critical values of chisquare become larger.

Chi-Square Test of Independence

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Using the Chi-Square Test

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Often used with contingency tables (i.e.,

crosstabulations)

E.g., gender x student

The chi-square test of independence tests whether

the columns are contingent on the rows in the table.

In this case, the null hypothesis is that there is no relationship between row and column frequencies.

H0: The 2 variables are independent.

Requirements for Chi-Square test

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Must be a random sample from population

Data must be in raw frequencies

Variables must be independent Categories for each I.V. must be mutually exclusive

and exhaustive

Example Crosstab: Gender x Student

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Student

Not Student 71 (76.02)

Total

Males

46 (40.97)

117

Females

37 (42.03)

83 (77.97)

120
Observed Expected

Total

83

154

237

Special Cases
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Fishers Exact Test When you have a 2 x 2 table with expected frequencies less than 5. Strength of Association Some use Cramers V (for any two nominal variables) or Phi (for 2 x 2 tables) to give a value of association between the variables.

Practical Examples:
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chi2dist.do chisquare.do Auto.dta