Department of Environmental Science

ENS 600: Quantitative Technique in Environmental Science

Test Statistics: ANOVA

Final Project
 Table of contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Roles And Significance Of Anova ................................................................................................................ 3

Types Of Anova ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Specific Assumptions Of Anova ................................................................................................................... 4

Study Variables ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Variables Under Study .............................................................................................................................. 6

Part Iii ........................................................................................................................................................... 7

Study Data................................................................................................................................................. 7

Part Iv ............................................................................................................................................................ 7

Null Hypothesis And Alternative Hypothesis ........................................................................................... 8

Rejection Level ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Spss Computations Of The Test Statistics ................................................................................................ 8

Sketch Of The P-Value In Relation To The Rejection Level ................................................................. 10

Part V .......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 10

References ................................................................................................................................................... 11

Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 12

Study Data............................................................................................................................................... 12
Introduction

ANOVA, an acronym for Analysis of Variance, is a parametric statistical technique that is used
for detecting differences between more than two groups when there is one dependent variable and
one or more independent variables (Sawyer, 2009). ANOVA allows one to determine whether the
differences between the samples are simply due to random error (sampling errors) or whether there
are systematic treatment effects that causes the mean in one group to differ from the mean in
another. Most of the time ANOVA is used to compare the equality of three or more means. (A,
2011)

According to Thayer. J.F. and Turner, J. R ( 2001) ANOVA is based on comparing the variance
(or variation) between the data samples to variation within each sample. If variation between
groups is much larger than the variation within groups, the means of different samples will not be
equal. If the between and within variations are approximately the same size, then there will be no
significant difference between sample means. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is one of the
most important and useful techniques for variety of fields such as agriculture, sociology and
medicine for comparing different groups or treatments with respect to their means.

Roles and Significance of ANOVA

a) ANOVA is used to find out if the survey or experimental results are significant.

b) ANOVA is also used to test the degree to which more than two groups vary or differ in an
experiment.

c) It also provides a statistical test of whether the population means of several groups are equal,
i.e. whether there is a difference among groups means. (Box, G. E. P. and Cox, D. R. 964)

Types of ANOVA
The following are the three types of ANOVA namely: One-way ANOVA, Two-way ANOVA
and N-WAY ANOVA.

One-way ANOVA is the type of ANOVA that is used to test for differences among more than two
group means when there is one independent variable and one dependent variable for example to
 determine whether there is a significant difference between three enzymes in increasing the
average of daily milk, dependent variable daily milk, independent variable enzyme.

Two-way ANOVA is used to test for differences among more than two group means when there
is two independent variable and one dependent variable. for example, to determine whether 4 types
of fertilizers have different effects on the average of increasing production of wheat.

Three-way ANOVA is used to test for differences among more than two group means when there
is more than two independent variable and one dependent variable (Levene, 1960)

Specific Assumptions of ANOVA

The following are assumptions of ANOVA:

a) Independent observation: which means that there is no relationship between the observations in
each group or between the groups themselves. For example, there must be different participants in
each group with no participant being in more than one group.
b) Normal Distributed data: ANOVA assume that the responses are normally distributed and that
there are no outliers.
c) Homoscedasticity/ homogeneity of variances: ANOVA assume that variances are approximately
equal between comparative groups. (Miller, 1997)
d) Dependent variable should be measured at the interval or ratio level (i.e., they are continuous).
Examples of variables that meet this criterion include revision time (measured in hours),
intelligence (measured using IQ score), exam performance (measured from 0 to 100), weight
(measured in kg).
e) Independent variable should consist of more than two categorical, independent groups. Example
independent variables that meet this criterion include ethnicity (e.g., 3 groups: Caucasian, African
American and Hispanic), physical activity level (e.g., 4 groups: sedentary, low, moderate and
high), profession (e.g., 5 groups: surgeon, doctor, nurse, dentist, therapist).

Examples of Scenarios Where ANOVA Test Statistic Can Be Applied.

The following scenarios includes all three types of ANOVA

a) ONE WAY ANOVA: To determine the difference on the effect of genetically modified
foods on children’s growth. 140 children are randomly sampled and divided into 4 groups
with each group having 35 children. The first group which is Group 1, 35 children are given
genetically modified food 1 (fruit), group 2, 35 children are given genetically modified
food 2 (vegetables), group 3, 35 children are given genetically modified food 3 (meat) and
group 4 of 35 children are not given genetically modified food (organic foods). The
observation will be made over a period of 5 years of growth. (Independent variable:
genetically modified food) and (dependent variable: growth)
b) TWO WAY ANOVA: To investigate whether the interest in politics vary according to
level of education and gender. 90 participants were randomly selected, 45 males and 45
females. 15 from each group were divided by the level of education (which has three levels
namely; high school, college and university). In this scenario we have two independent
variables that is gender and level of education and one dependent variable which is
interest in politics.
c) THREE WAY ANOVA: To determine whether Intelligent Quotient Level differs
according to country, gender and age group.180 participants were randomly selected.60
participants from 3 countries consisting of 30 males and 30 females from three different
age groups (which are below 21, 21 to 45 and above 45) were independently randomly
selected. (Independent variables: country, gender and age group. Dependent variable:
intelligent quotient)

Study Variables
Plant height (in cm) was measured and recorded from 5 different rates of nitrogen fertilizers. Five
independent plots with variety of wheat were randomly selected and given fertilizer at one of the
five rates (lb /acre): 0, 50, 100, 150, 200. The sample size was 170, with each plot having 34 plants
and in the control plot fertilizer was not applied.
 Variables Under Study

Table 1: shows variables under study

Variable Category Scale of Measurement

Fertilizer rate Independent Categorical data (ordinal)

Plant growth Dependent Interval data (ratio)

The data satisfied the basic assumptions of ANOVA being:

 The samples are independent and randomly selected

 The independent variable which is the fertilizer is using ordinal scale of measurements
 The dependent variable which is plant growth is using ratio scale of measurements

Data Transformations When Assumptions Are Not Met

Different assumptions of ANOVA have different data transformation process if data violates those
assumptions.

With violations of normality, continuing with the ANOVA is generally okay if you have a
large sample size (of more than 30), for example our results do not violate this as we have 34
samples for each sample group. With violation of homogeneity of variance assumption, these can
be mitigated by having equal sample sizes of factors and levels or if they are nearly equal, for
example in our data we have 34 samples for each level, therefore the assumption was not violated.

In circumstances where assumptions of ANOVA are violated, every assumption has its own
transformation process as indicated below,

For normality, ANOVA is robust to violations of normality, meaning that assumption can have
some little violation and still provide valid results. This assumption is tested using the Shapiro-
Wilk test of normality, Skewness and Kurtosis, Histograms and Normal Q-Q Plots which are easily
tested for using SPSS Statistics. But if our data is not normally distributed, we can try some of
these three options:
  first, we can try to mathematically transform (using log, arcsine, etc.) our data to best
mitigate the violation
 Secondly, we can try to use one of the non-parametric equivalence of ANOVA e.g.
Kruskal-Wallis or Friedman test
 Lastly, we can try to remove the outliers if they are the one causing the data not to be
normally distributed and this is only done if the outliers do not affect our results if they
have a significant impact on the results, we don’t remove them. (Sawyer, 2009)

For homogeneity of variance, this assumption is also tested in SPSS Statistics using Levine’s test.
If the data fails this assumption, a Welch ANOVA can be carried out using SPSS Statistics, but
we can also use a different post hoc test, or a Games-Howell test can be used instead of a Tukey
post hoc test. (Box G. , 1953)

Part III
Study data
In study on the effect of Nitrogen fertilization on cereal crops, plots of a variety of wheat were
randomly given fertilizer at one of the following five rates: 0, 50, 100, 150, 200. After 8 weeks,
plants were randomly selected from the plots and the plants height (in cm) was measured and
recorded. The test statistic that we are going to use for our study is ANOVA using the one-way
type of ANOVA, where we have one independent variable which is fertilizer rate.

PART IV
Table 1: Table showing research question and research objectives

RESEARCH OBJECIVES RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 To determine whether there is a significant  Does the rate of nitrogen fertilizer affect
difference in the rate of nitrogen fertilizer on plant plant growth?
growth
 Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis
The null hypothesis for an ANOVA always assumes that the population means are equal
whereas the alternative hypothesis assume that population means are not equal.

 Null hypothesis
The is no significant difference on the rate of nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth.
 Alternative hypothesis
There is a significant difference on the rate of nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth.

Rejection Level
In hypothesis testing, this is the value that we use to determine whether to reject or fail to reject
the null hypothesis. We normally use:𝛼 = 0.05
 Decision rule: if the p-value is smaller than α, we reject the null hypothesis

SPSS Computations of the Test Statistics

We used SPSS to analyze our data, using one-way ANOVA to help us determine whether there is
a statistically significant difference in the rate of nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth the following
tables shows some of the results that were computed by SPSS.
Table 3: Showing maximum, minimum, mean, standard deviation and standard error of each
sample rate
Descriptive
Plant Growth
N Mean Std. Std. 95% Confidence Interval Minimum Maximum
Deviation Error for Mean
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
0 34 63.82 24.878 4.267 55.14 72.50 12 98
50 34 58.68 26.952 4.622 49.27 68.08 9 98
100 34 56.29 25.658 4.400 47.34 65.25 12 100
150 34 70.76 17.811 3.054 64.55 76.98 30 97
200 34 59.18 23.060 3.955 51.13 67.22 4 99
Total 170 61.75 24.155 1.853 58.09 65.40 4 100

Table 4: showing the p-value of 0.103

ANOVA
Plant Growth
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 4467.624 4 1116.906 1.958 .103

Within Groups 94138.500 165 570.536
Total 98606.124 169

From table 4 above, our p-values is 0.103 and greater than our alpha (α) which is 0.05. According
to our rejection rule that we have defined above we are going to fail to reject the null hypothesis
because our p-values is greater than alpha.
 Sketch of the P-Value in Relation to the Rejection Level

P-value = 0.103,
z-score = 1.26

Rejection level

Alpha =0.05
z-score = 1.96

From table 4 results, we are 89.7% confident that there is no significant difference in the rate of
nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth. Which means we will fail to reject the null hypothesis because
89.7% is lower than the 95% confidence level of the null hypothesis. Alternatively what this means
is our p-value 0.103 is more than the alpha which was set to be 0.05.

Part V
Conclusion
In conclusion, ANOVA is parametric statistic test is used to compare the equality of three or more
means. It is also used in different disciplines. From our findings we conclude that there is no
significant difference in the rate of nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth, therefore we fail to reject
the null hypothesis.
 References

Rutherford, A., (2011). ANOVA and ANCOVA: A GLM Approach. New Jersey : John Wiley &
Sons Publishers.

Box, G. (1953). Non-normality and Tests on Variances. Biometrika, 318–335.

Box, G. E. (1964). An analysis of transformations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 211-
252.

Levene, H. (1960). Robust Tests for The Equality of Variance Test for Normality. London:
Stanford University Press.

Miller, J. R. (1997). Beyond ANOVA: Basics of Applied Statistics. London: Chapman & Hall
Publishers.

Sawyer, S. F. (2009). Analysis of Variance: The Fundamental Concepts. The Journal of Manual
& Manipulative Therapy, 27.

Thayer. J.F. and Turner, J. R., (2001). Introduction to Analysis of Variance: Design, Analysis
and Interpretation . New York: Sage Publications.
Appendix
Study Data

Fertilizer_rate Plant_growth 2 9 3 23
1 47 2 22 3 58
1 98 2 59 3 52
1 12 2 69 3 23
1 66 2 94 3 59
1 74 2 22 3 34
1 90 2 92 3 71
1 87 2 79 3 33
1 55 2 33 3 71
1 91 2 15 3 20
1 61 2 47 3 17
1 46 2 52 3 97
1 86 2 55 3 66
1 80 2 82 3 30
1 47 2 29 3 45
1 38 2 96 3 46
1 82 2 73 3 81
1 88 2 21 3 93
1 46 2 92 3 12
1 74 2 48 3 79
1 75 2 98 3 66
1 49 2 67 3 94
1 78 2 56 3 82
1 52 2 56 3 67
1 14 2 92 3 71
1 96 2 71 3 66
1 86 2 31 3 35
1 95 2 48 3 86
1 45 2 73 3 36
1 13 2 51 3 82
1 39 2 43 3 36
1 70 2 91 3 30
1 95 2 97 3 53
1 45 2 32 4 85
1 50 3 100 4 59
4 69 5 73
4 96 5 83
4 78 5 74
4 58 5 69
4 49 5 55
4 89 5 88
4 58 5 16
4 90 5 60
4 91 5 50
4 84 5 51
4 71 5 54
4 80 5 69
4 97 5 54
4 63 5 66
4 37 5 71
4 93 5 64
4 77 5 80
4 77 5 43
4 89 5 14
4 77 5 59
4 51 5 44
4 74 5 92
4 61 5 4
4 79 5 58
4 30 5 56
4 55
4 79
4 70
4 58
4 38
4 90
4 54
5 7
5 76
5 47
5 53
5 89
5 76
5 69
5 99
5 49