THE KENDALL’S COEFFICIENT OF CONCORDANCE W

This is another nonparametric test used to find out if there is an agreement or concordance
among raters or judges of N objects or individuals. The interpretation of the value of W is high
agreement when W=1, no agreement when W= 0. The formula is:

12 ∑ D 2
W=
m ( N ) ( N −1 )
2 2

Where:
W = the coefficient of concordance
D = the difference between the individual sum
of ranks of the raters or judges and the
average of the sum of ranks of the object or
individuals.
m = Judges or raters
N = Objects or individual being rated or ranked
∑ D 2 = the sum of squares of the difference
Example 1: The data on the ranking of 10 projects by 4 judges.

Individual Judge’s Ranks

Project A B C D

1 1 2 3 4
2 3 1 2 2
3 4 4 1 3
4 5 5 5 1
5 2 6 7 6
6 8 3 4 7
7 6 8 6 5
8 7 7 8 9
9 10 10 9 8
10 9 9 10 10

Solving by Stepwise Method;

Problem: Is there an agreement or concordance of the 4 judges regarding the 10 projects?

I. Hypotheses:
 H 0: There is no agreement or concordance of the 4 judges regarding the 10 projects.

H a : There is an agreement or concordance of the 4 judges regarding the 10 projects,

II. Level of Significance:

α = .05
df = m= 4; N=10
W .05 = .44

III. Statistics:

W Coefficient of Concordance

Individual Project Judge’s Ranks Sum of Ranks [ R−∑ of Ranks ] D

2

A B C D /D/
1 1 2 3 4 10 12 144
2 3 1 2 2 8 14 196
3 4 4 1 3 12 10 100
4 5 5 5 1 16 6 36
5 2 6 7 6 21 1 1
6 8 3 4 7 22 0 0
7 6 8 6 5 25 3 9
8 7 7 8 9 31 9 81
9 10 10 9 8 37 15 225
10 9 9 10 10 38 16 256
∑ R = 220 ∑ D2
= 1048
220
R=
10
R = 22
Solution:
Add the ranks of the four judges A, B, C, and D of the ten individual projects; place them under
column Sum of Ranks. Get the summation of the Sum of Ranks with the notation of ∑ R = 220. Get the
average of the Sum of Ranks by dividing it by 10, the number of projects. The average is 22 and subtract
it from the column D. Square the difference and place them under D 2. Get the ∑ D = 1048.
2

To compute W, we use the formula:

12 ∑ D
2

W=
m2 ( N ) ( N 2−1 )
 12(1048)
=
( 4 ) (10 ) ( 102 −1 )
2

12576
= ( 16 ) (10 )( 99 )

12576
= 158404

W = .79
Decision Rule: If the computed W is greater than the tabular value, reject H 0.

IV. Decision &Conclusion: The computed W of .79 is greater than the tabular value
of .44 at .05 level of significance with m = 4 and N = 10 degrees of freedom, the null
hypothesis is rejected in favor of the research hypothesis. This means that there is an
agreement or concordance of the 4 judges regarding the 10 projects. It implies that project
number 2 is rank 1 while project number 10 is the last rank.