Andy Field & Graham Hole (2003). How
The sample mean
to Design and Report Experiments.
One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test
The One-Sample Kolmogorov-
Smirnov Test procedure compares
the observed cumulative distribution
function for a variable with a
specified theoretical distribution,
which may be normal, uniform,
Poisson, or exponential.
The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z is
computed from the largest difference
(in absolute value) between the
observed and theoretical cumulative
distribution functions. This goodness-
of-fit test tests whether the
observations could reasonably have
come from the specified distribution.
Example. Many parametric tests
require normally distributed variables.
The one-sampleKolmogorov-
Smirnov test can be used to test that
a variable (for example, income) is
normally distributed.
Statistics. Mean, standard deviation,
minimum, maximum, number of
nonmissing cases, and quartiles.
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Data. Use quantitative variables
(interval or ratio level of
measurement).
Assumptions. The Kolmogorov-
Smirnov test assumes that the
parameters of the test distribution
are specified in advance. This
procedure estimates the parameters
from the sample.
and sample standard deviation are
the parameters for a normal
distribution, the sample minimum
and maximum values define the
range of the uniform distribution, the
sample mean is the parameter for
the Poisson distribution, and the
sample mean is the parameter for
the exponential distribution. The
power of the test to detect
departures from the hypothesized
distribution may be seriously
diminished. For testing against a
normal distribution with estimated
parameters, consider the adjusted K-
S Lilliefors test (available in the
Explore procedure).
To Obtain a One-Sample Kolmogorov-
Smirnov Test
This feature requires the Statistics
Base option.
From the menus choose:
Analyze > Nonparametric Tests >
Legacy Dialogs > 1-Sample K-S...
Select one or more numeric test
variables. Each variable produces a
separate test.
Optionally, click Options for
descriptive statistics, quartiles, and
control of the treatment of missing
data.