CHI-SQUARE

AND
ODDS RATIOS
 Semester Recap
 We’ve covered:
 Descriptive Statistics  Statistical Concepts
 Measures of Central Tendency  Statistical Significance
 Measures of Variability  Type I and Type II Error
 Z-scores and Graphing  Alpha and p-values
 Association and Prediction  Beta and power
 Correlation  Effect Sizes
 Regression (simple and multiple)
 Testing for Group Differences
 t-tests (one, indep., and paired)
 ANOVA (One-way, factorial,
ANCOVA, RM ANOVA
Last weeks…
 All of the statistical tests on the prior slide are known
as ‘parametric’ statistics
 Parametric Statistics have strict assumptions that must be
met before a t-test, correlation, etc… can be used
 Assumes homoscedasticity of variance (variance between
two variables are similar)
 Assumes a normal distribution (bell-shaped curve)
 These assumptions are not easily met
 For example, we’ve used physical activity in several of our
examples this semester – physical activity is RARELY
normally distributed…
Nationally Representative Sample of Minutes of
Daily Physical Activity

Is this a normal distribution?

What kind is it?

Positive Skew

PA
Additionally…
 Sometimes you need to use a dependent variable that is
categorical (grouping)
 Recall from the chart that the statistical tests we’ve
discussed all require 1 continuous dependent variables
 Example Research Question:
 Are there more male than female athletic trainers across the
United States?
 I want to know if there are more men than women – this is a
nominal dependent variable
 No correlation, regression, or ANOVA, etc… will help
me answer this simple question
 Non-Parametric Tests
 Non-parametric tests can be used when:
 Parametric tests statistical assumptions are not met
 Categorical DV’s are used

 Non-parametric statistics is an entirely different line of

statistics that includes dozens of new tests
 Usually a parametric test has a non-parametric ‘relative’
 Chi-Square Test of Independence is similar to Pearson Correlation
 Most of the time if you can’t meet the assumptions of the parametric test
you wanted to do – you can find an appropriate non-parametric test
 Non-Parametric Tests (cont)
 Non-parametric tests have benefits and drawbacks like all
statistical tests
 Benefits:
 Assumptions are easier to meet
 Non-parametric tests basically just need nominal or ordinal data
 Remember that interval or ratio data scales can always be converted to
nominal or ordinal – the inverse is not true
 More ‘robust’
 Non-parametric statistics are more versatile tests
 Recall small changes in our data required completely different parametric
tests (e.g., the difference between a t-test and ANOVA)
 Usually easier to calculate
 We can realistically hand-calculate several non-parametric tests
 Non-Parametric Tests (cont)
 Non-parametric tests have benefits and drawbacks
like all statistical tests
 Drawbacks:
 Less ‘mainstream’
 Non-parametric tests are commonly used – but far less frequently
than parametric tests
 Less powerful
 By design, non-parametric tests have less statistical power…
 What’s that mean?
 Unless you NEED to use a categorical dependent variable, if your
data meets the statistical assumptions you should use parametric
stats
Tonight
 We will discuss and use two non-parametric tests:
 Chi-square test of independence
 Logistic Regression (Odds Ratio)

 These are the most common non-parametric tests

 Both are related to each other (often used together)
 Do NOT require normal distribution or
homoscedasticity
 Do require 2 categorical variables (nominal or ordinal)
 Chi-Square, χ2
 There are actually a few different types of Chi-Square
tests, we will discuss the Chi-Square test of independence
 Test determines if two variables are related (or unrelated)
 ‘Test of independence’
 Similar to Pearson correlation
 For example, we would expect
 Sex (Male/Female) is NOT related to hair color (dark/light)
 Men and women are just as likely to have dark or light hair

 Sex (Male/Female) is related to having a heart attack (Yes/No)

 Men have more heart attacks than women do

 For these tests, start thinking about data in 2x2 tables…

 Chi-Square Data ‘Picture’
Heart Attack?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 68 32
Sex
Women 42 58
 A 2x2 table provides a nice summary of the data
 In this example, ‘Sex’ is the IV and ‘Heart Attack’ is the DV
 Does male/female increase risk of heart attack?
 This table provides frequency of occurrence
 Can also convert to percentage – you will get the same result
 SPSS View
 Data Structure:
 Key variables are categorical
 Can look at the data labels or
values:
 Males = 1
 Females = 2
 HeartAttack Yes = 1
 HeartAttack No = 2
 Look at Labels and Values:
 SPSS View
 Data Structure:
 Key variables are categorical
 Can look at the data labels or
values:
 Males = 1
 Females = 2
 HeartAttack Yes = 1
 HeartAttack No = 2
 Chi-Square Data ‘Picture’
Heart Attack?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 68 32
Sex
Women 42 58

 You should fill out the margins of the table (how many
men, women, total n, heart attacks, other causes, etc…
 Do on board
 How the Chi-Square works…
Heart Attack?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 68 32
Sex
Women 42 58
 The χ2 test has a null hypothesis that there is no difference in the frequency of
men/women having heart attacks
 If the two variables are unrelated (independent), we would expect men and women
to have the about same number
 But, we need a statistical test to know if this difference is RSE
How to run
Chi-Square
 It is CRITICAL you put the variables in the correct spots
 Typically the IV goes in the Row Then click on ‘statistics’
 And DV goes in the Column

It doesn’t really
change the answer
– but it makes it
easier for you to
understand the
results
What else is there?
 The ‘cells’ tab will allow
you to request percentages
in each cell, to go along
with the frequencies
 The ‘format’ tab will allow
you to change the
organization of your table
 E.g., put ‘Females’ on the
top row, or put ‘No Heart
Attack’ in the left column
SPSS Output
 SPSS provides two initial tables:
 1) Case Processing Summary: Ignore, repeat info of…
 2) CrossTabs Table (our 2x2):

= Frequency. Could have asked for

Percentages
Chi-Square Tests
 We only care about the ‘Pearson Chi-Square’ – yeah, it’s
that same guy from correlation…
 Important info is the χ2 = 13.657, df, p, and n

 χ2 = 13.66 is just like the t-statistic or r, or F ratio...

Chi-Square df
 df is calculated by (number of columns – 1)
multiplied by (number of rows – 1)
 2 rows – 1 = 1
 2 columns – 1 = 1
 1 x 1 = 1 df
 All 2x2 tables have 1 df, more variables will change this
Reporting the results:
 A chi-square test of independence was used
compare the frequency of heart attacks between
men and women. Sex was significantly related to
having a heart attack. Men tended to have more
heart attacks than women (χ2(1) = 13.66, p <
0.001).
Questions on Chi-Square?
Logistic Regression
 Researchers do often report just the Chi-Square test
results. However, it is also common for them to
incorporate logistic regression/or odds ratios
 Quick definition of Logistic Regression:
 Type of regression equation that uses a categorical DV
 Such as heart attack yes/no from our example
 It allows you to include any type of IV (categorical or
continuous) – and any number of IV’s
 In this sense, it is very similar to simple or multiple linear reg.
 Instead of providing you with a slope – it provides an
odds ratio for each IV
 What are the odds…?
 Odds
 The probability of an event happening divided by the
probability of the event not happening
 Students often get confused here…
 A die has 6 sizes, each with a difference number
 On one die, the odds of rolling a 1 is…?
 1 side has a 1 on it, 5 sides do NOT
 Odds of rolling a 1:
 1/5, or 20%
What’s an odds ratio…?
 Odds Ratio
 The odds of an event happening in one group divided by the odds of
an event happening in another group
 It is literally the ratio of two odds

 It acts like effect size for a chi-square

 The chi-square tells you if there is a difference – the odds ratio tells you
how big/strong that difference is
 If the chi-square is significant – the odds ratio is also statistically significant
 Literal interpretation is how much more likely an event is to happen
in one group versus another
 It’s easier to see in our example…
Back to our example
 What are the odds of a heart attack in men?
 68/32, or 2.125
 What are the odds of a heart attack in women?
 42/58, or 0.724
Heart Attack?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 68 32
Sex
Women 42 58
Back to our example
 What is the ratio of these odds, or odds ratio?
 2.125 / 0.724 = 2.9 = OR
 Interpretation:
 Men are 2.9 times more likely to have a heart attack
than women (we know it’s significant because of the
χ 2)
Heart Attack?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 68 32
Sex
Women 42 58
 More on odds ratios
 Interpreting odds ratios can trip up some students:
 For example, 2.9 is the odds ratio for men vs. women
 Men are 3 times more likely than women
 Being a man is a ‘risk factor’ for heart attack
 What is the odds ratio for women vs. men?
 0.724 / 2.125 = 0.34
 Women are one-third as likely to have a heart attack than men
 Being a woman is ‘protective’ of a heart attack
 Odds Ratios:
 > 1.0 indicate an increased risk
 < 1.0 indicate a decreased risk
 = 1.0 indicate the SAME risk
Another Example: Lung Cancer
Lung Cancer?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 6 64
Sex
Women 16 201
 First, notice that way more women had lung cancer
 But – there are way more women in this sample
 I’ll run a chi-square in SPSS to see if there is a
difference…
Lung Cancer Chi-Square results
 χ2 = 2.451, df = 1, p = 0.456, n = 287
 Is there a difference in the frequency of lung cancer
between men and women?

 A chi-square test revealed that there was no

significant difference in the odds of lung cancer
between men and women (χ2 (1) = 2.451, p =
0.456).
 Let’s calculate the odds ratio…
Odds Ratio: Lung Cancer
 What are the odds of cancer in men?
 6/64 = 0.094
Odds Ratio = 0.094 / 0.079 = 1.19
 In women?
 16/201 = 0.079 It appears men might be slightly
 What is the OR? more likely than women, but this
could be due to RSE

Lung Cancer?
Cause of Death in
Men and Women Yes No

Men 6 64
Sex
Women 16 201
More on Odds Ratios
 1) Take care in setting up your 2x2 table – this can
make it really easy to calculate the odds and
understand your chi-square or really hard

 2) As you can see we are hand-calculating an odds

ratio. You can get SPSS to do this for you.
 If you have only 1 IV (like these example), it’s called
“Risk” in the CrossTabs option
 Like simple linear regression
New Heart Attack Output
 When you do this, ignore the bottom rows of the
box (they are more confusing than helpful)
 You get the OR and the 95% CI
 This is the same result we got from hand calculating it,
and we knew it was significant because of the chi-
square test
95% CI’s and Odds Ratios
 Is this odds ratio statistically significant?

 How can you tell?

More on Odds Ratios
 2) As you can see we are hand-calculating an odds
ratio. You can get SPSS to do this for you.
 With 1 IV, use crosstabs
 With multiple IV’s, use ‘logistic regression’
 I won’t ask you to do this – but you should know it’s there
More on Odds Ratios
 2) As you can see we are hand-calculating an odds
ratio. You can get SPSS to do this for you.
 With 1 IV, use crosstabs
 With multiple IV’s, use ‘logistic regression’
 3) Odds Ratios can be tricky without the 2x2 table
 They tell you how much more likely something is to
happen for a certain group (like males vs females)
 But, you should always include the information in the
2x2 table so people know what you’re talking about
 Example…
Odds of Winning the Powerball
 Odds of winning the Powerball lotto with 1 ticket:
 1 / 175,223,510 = 0.00000000571
 Odds of winning the Powerball with 10 tickets:
 10/175,223,510 = 0.0000000571
 Odds Ratio = 10.0
 You are 10 times as likely to win with 10 tickets!!!!!
 Still better odds to die driving to buy your ticket – or getting
hit by lightning – than winning with 10 tickets.
 Odds Ratios are great statistics – but should not be used to
model VERY, VERY rare things
 Referent Group
 4) Odds ratios are a ratio between two groups
 The odds ratio was 2.9 or 0.34 for our heart attack example – depending
on which group was the referent
 Referent Group = The ‘baseline’ group in the odds ratio. The group
that is in the denominator.
 2.125 / 0.724 = 2.9
 Women were the referent group – meaning men were 2.9 times more likely
than women
 Must mention this when talking about your odds ratio – you can’t just say, ‘the
odds ratio was 2.9’.
 WHO was 2.9 times more likely than WHO?
 This is especially important when using them for more than 2 groups…
Example with multiple groups

 Odds ratios from a current study I’m working on

 Shows compares the odds of obesity in children
meeting recommendations for PA, screen time, sleep
 Notice that WHO I choose to be the referent group
influences all of the odds ratios
QUESTIONS ON CHI-SQUARE?
ODDS RATIOS?
Upcoming…
 In-class activity
 Homework:
 Cronk – Read Section 7.2 on Chi-Square of
Independence
 Holcomb Exercises 55, 56, 57 and 59
 Exercises 55-57 are on Chi-Square, 59 is on Odds Ratio