Analysisofcovariance 140715173812 Phpapp02
Analysisofcovariance 140715173812 Phpapp02
David Markham
djmarkham@bsu.edu
Analysis of Covariance
Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is a
statistical test related to ANOVA
It tests whether there is a significant
difference between groups after controlling
for variance explained by a covariate
A covariate is a continuous variable that
correlates with the dependent variable
So, what does all that mean?
This means that you can, in effect, “partial
out” a continuous variable and run an
ANOVA on the results
This is one way that you can run a
statistical test with both categorical and
continuous independent variables
Hypotheses for ANCOVA
H0 and H1 need to be stated slightly
0
differently for an ANCOVA than a regular
ANOVA
H0: the group means are equal after
controlling for the covariate
H1: the group means are not equal after
controlling for the covariate
Assumptions for ANCOVA
ANOVA assumptions:
Variance is normally distributed
Variance is equal between groups
All measurements are independent
Also, for ANCOVA:
Relationship between DV and covariate is
linear
The relationship between the DV and
covariate is the same for all groups
How does ANCOVA work?
ANCOVA works by adjusting the total SS,
group SS, and error SS of the independent
variable to remove the influence of the
covariate
However, the sums of squares must also
be calculated for the covariate. For this
reason, SSdv will be used for SS scores for
the dependent variable, and SScv will be
used for the covariate
Sum of Squares
SSxtotal (xij x) 2
SSxgroup nj (x j x)2
SSxerror (xij xj ) 2
SPxytotal
j i
(xij x)(yij y)
SPxygroup
j
nj(xj x)(yj y)
SPxyerrorSPxytotal SPxygroup
SSy adjtotal
SSytotal
SP total
xy
2
SSxtotal
SS adjgroup
y SS group
SP error
SP total
xy
2
xy
2
y
SSxerror SSxtotal
2
(SPxyerror
)
SSy adjerror
SSy error
SSxerror
Now what?
Using the adjusted SS’s, we can now run
an ANOVA to see if there is a difference
between groups.
This is the exact same as a regular
ANOVA, but using the adjusted SS’s
instead of the original ones.
Degrees of freedom are not affected
A few more things
We can also determine whether the
covariate is significant by getting a F score
(SPxytotal)2
N 2
SSxtotal
F(1, N 2)
SSy adjtotal
A few more things
The group means can also be adjusted to
eliminate the effect of the covariate
SPxyerror
adjy j y j
xj x
SSxerror
Post-hocs for ANCOVA
Post-hoc tests can be done using the
adjusted means for ANCOVA, including
LSD and Bonferroni
Example of ANCOVA
Imagine we gave subjects a self-esteem
test, with scores of 1 to 10
Then we primed subjects with either
positive or negative emotions.
Then we asked them to spend a few
minutes writing about themselves.
Our dependent measure is the number of
positive emotion words they used (e.g.
happy, good)
Example of ANCOVA, cont.
The null hypothesis is that the priming
doesn’t make a difference after controlling
for self-esteem
The alternative hypothesis is that the
priming does make a difference after
controlling for self-esteem
Data
Subject # Priming Self-Esteem Positive Words
1 Positive 1 7
2 Positive 5 10
3 Positive 7 11
4 Negative 8 7
5 Negative 3 4
6 Negative 6 5
ANCOVA in SPSS
To do ANCOVA in SPSS, all you need to
do is add your covariate to the “covariate”
box in the “univariate” menu
Everything else is the exact same as it is
for ANOVA