Experiment 10: One Way Analysis of Variance Objectives
Experiment 10: One Way Analysis of Variance Objectives
Objectives:
The eight steps below show you how to analyse your data using a one-way ANOVA in SPSS Statistics
when the six assumptions in the previous section, Assumptions, have not been violated. At the end of
these eight steps, we show you how to interpret the results from this test. If you are looking for help
to make sure your data meets assumptions #4, #5 and #6, which are required when using a one-way
ANOVA, and can be tested using SPSS Statistics, you can learn more on our Features: One-way
ANOVA page.
Click Analyze > Compare Means > One-Way ANOVA... on the top menu, as shown below.
Published with written permission from SPSS Statistics, IBM Corporation.
Transfer the dependent variable, Time, into the Dependent List: box and the independent
variable, Course, into the Factor: box using the appropriate buttons (or drag-and-drop the
variables into the boxes), as shown below:
This is the table that shows the output of the ANOVA analysis and whether there is a statistically
significant difference between our group means. We can see that the significance value is 0.021
(i.e., p = .021), which is below 0.05. and, therefore, there is a statistically significant difference in the
mean length of time to complete the spreadsheet problem between the different courses taken. This
is great to know, but we do not know which of the specific groups differed. Luckily, we can find this
out in the Multiple Comparisons table which contains the results of the Tukey post hoc test.
From the results so far, we know that there are statistically significant differences between the groups
as a whole. The table below, Multiple Comparisons, shows which groups differed from each other.
The Tukey post hoc test is generally the preferred test for conducting post hoc tests on a one-way
ANOVA, but there are many others. We can see from the table below that there is a statistically
significant difference in time to complete the problem between the group that took the beginner
course and the intermediate course (p = 0.046), as well as between the beginner course and advanced
course (p = 0.034). However, there were no differences between the groups that took the
intermediate and advanced course (p = 0.989).
Based on the results above, you could report the results of the study as follows (N.B., this does not
include the results from your assumptions tests or effect size calculations):
• General
There was a statistically significant difference between groups as determined by one-way ANOVA
(F(2,27) = 4.467, p = .021). A Tukey post hoc test revealed that the time to complete the problem was
statistically significantly lower after taking the intermediate (23.6 ± 3.3 min, p = .046) and advanced
(23.4 ± 3.2 min, p = .034) course compared to the beginners course (27.2 ± 3.0 min). There was no
statistically significant difference between the intermediate and advanced groups (p = .989).