Project

Name: Muhammad Siddique

Class: B.Ed.
Semester: fifth
Subject: Inferential statistics
Submitted to: Sir Sajid Ali
Question # 1
Explain ANCOVA and its application in Educational research? What are major
purposes of using ANCOVA analysis. Provide examples where ANOCA can be
useful.

What is ANCOVA?
ANCOVA is a blend of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression. It is similar
to factorial ANOVA, in that it can tell you what additional information you can get by
considering one independent variable (factor) at a time, without the influence of the
others. It can be used used as:
 An extension of multiple regression to compare multiple regression lines,
 An extension of analysis of variance.
Although ANCOVA is usually used when there are differences between your baseline
groups, it can also be used in pretest/posttest analysis when regression to the
mean affects your post test measurement. The technique is also common in non-
experimental research (e.g. surveys) and for quasi-experiments (when study
participants can’t be assigned randomly). However, this particular application of
ANCOVA is not always recommended.

General steps for ANCOVA

General steps are:
1. Run a regression between the independent and dependent variables.
2. Identify the residual values from the results.
3. Run an ANOVA on the residuals.
Assumptions for ANCOVA
Assumptions are basically the same as the ANOVA assumptions. Check that
the following are true before running the test:
1. Independent
variables (minimum of two) should be categorical variables.
2. The dependent
variable and covariate should be continuous variables (measured on
an interval scale or ratio scale.)
3. Make
sure observations are independent. In other words, don’t put people into
more than one group.
Software can usually check the following assumptions.
1. Normality: the
dependent variable should be roughly normal for each of category
of independent variables.
2. Data should
show homogeneity of variance.
3. The covariate and
dependent variable (at each level of independent variable) should
be linearly related.
 4. Your data should
be homoscedastic of Y for each value of X.
5. The covariate and
the independent variable shouldn’t interact. In other words, there should
be homogeneity of regression slopes.
 General applications for an Analysis of
Covariance(ANCOVA):
1. ANCOVA can then be used as a means to eliminate unwanted variance on the
dependent variable.  This allows the researcher to increase test sensitivity. 
Adding reliable and necessary variables to these models typically reduces the
error term.  By reducing the error term, the sensitivity of the F-test also
increases for main and interactive effects.
2. ANCOVA is to correct for initial group differences that exists on the dependent
variable.  Using this method, the researcher adjusts means on the dependent
variable in an effort to correct for individual differences.  This allows the
researcher to adjust the means on the dependent variable to what they would
have been should all of the participants scored equally on the covariate.  Using it
for this purpose is commonly done in non-experimental situations when random
assignment was not used.  However, differences may have also have been due
to other variables not measured or included as covariates.
3. This application is similar to the ones outlined above, but when the researcher is
measuring multiple dependent variables, such as a Multivariate ANOVA
(MANOVA).  This application typically occurs when the researcher wants to
assess the contribution of the various dependent variables by removing their
effects from the analyses.  This procedure is called a step down analysis.
4. Analysis of covariance is to test the main and interaction effects of categorical
variables on a continuous dependent variable, controlling for the effects of
selected other continuous variables, which co-vary with the dependent. The
control variables are called the "covariates.
5. The ANCOVA technique allows analysts to model the response of a variable as a
linear function of predictor(s), with the coefficients of the line varying among
different groups. Briefly, the main idea is the inclusion of additional factors
(covariates) as a statistical control to explain variation on the dependent
variable, reduce the error variation, and increase the statistical power
(sensitivity) of the underlying design. Thus, it differs from the analysis of
variance (ANOVA) which is used to determine whether differences among test
samples might be caused by random variation.
6. The ANCOVA analyses grouped data having a response (the dependent variable)
and two or more predictor variables (called covariates) where at least one of
them is continuous (quantitative, scaled) and one of them is categorical
(nominal, non-scaled).
 Major purposes of using ANCOVA analysis
 Because Analysis of covariance is used to test the main and interaction effects of
categorical variables on a continuous dependent variable, controlling for the
effects of selected other continuous variables, which co-vary with the dependent.
The control variables are called the "covariates.
 ANCOVA can increase statistical power (the probability a significant
difference is found between groups when one exists) by reducing the within-
group error variance. In order to understand this, it is necessary to understand the
test used to evaluate differences between groups, the F-test. The F-test is
computed by dividing the explained variance between groups (e.g., medical
recovery differences) by the unexplained variance within the groups.
 Another use of ANCOVA is to adjust for pre existing differences in non
equivalent (intact) groups. This controversial application aims at correcting for
initial group differences (prior to group assignment) that exists on DV among
several intact groups. In this situation, participants cannot be made equal through
random assignment, so CV s are used to adjust scores and make participants more
similar than without the CV. However, even with the use of covariates, there are
no statistical techniques that can equate unequal groups. Furthermore, the CV
may be so intimately related to the IV that removing the variance on the DV
associated with the CV would remove considerable variance on the DV,
rendering the results meaningless

Examples where ANOCA can be useful.

Statistical control, used when experimental control is difficult, if not impossible, can
be achieved by measuring one or more variables in addition to the independent
variables of primary interest and by controlling the variation attributed to these
variables through statistical analysis rather than through research design. The
analysis procedure employed in this statistical control is Analysis of Covariance
(ANCOVA).
 ANOVA that provides a way of statistically controlling the (linear) effect of
variables one does not want to examine in a study. These extraneous variables are
called covariates, or control variables.
 Covariates should be measured on an interval or ratio scale. It allows you to
remove covariates from the list of possible explanations of variance in the dependent
variable.
 It does this by using statistical techniques (such as regression to partial out the
effects of covariates) rather than direct experimental methods to control extraneous
variables.
 ANCOVA is used in experimental studies when researchers want to remove the
effects of some antecedent variable.

Examples
 Pre-test scores are used as covariates in pre-test & post-test experimental designs.
ANCOVA is also used in non-experimental research, such as surveys or non
random samples, or in quasi-experiments when subjects cannot be assigned
 randomly to control and experimental groups. Although fairly common, the use
of ANCOVA for non-experimental research is controversial. 
 This also makes the ANCOVA the model of choice when analysing semi-partial
correlations in an experiment, instead of the partial correlation analysis which
requires random data. The Dependent Variable is the Students' maths test score,
and the covariate is the reading score.