BIOSTATISTICS

CHAPTER 12: One-Way Analysis of Variance

Introduction
One of techniques that can be used to compare two or more population means is analysis of variance (ANOVA)
technique. This technique is used to test claims involving two or more means. For example, suppose a
researcher wishes to see whether the means of the time it takes three groups of students to solve a computer
problem using Fortran, Basic, and Pascal are different. The researcher will use the ANOVA technique for this
test.

The analysis of variance that is used to compare two or more means is called a one-way analysis of variance
since it contains only one variable. In the previous example, the variable is the type of computer language used.
The analysis of variance can be extended to studies involving two variables, such as type of computer language
used and mathematical background of the students. These studies involve a two-way analysis of variance.

Case Study
A researcher wishes to try three different methods to lower the blood pressure of individuals diagnosed with
high blood pressure. The subjects were randomly assigned to three groups each of 5 subjects; the first group
takes medication, the second group exercises, and the third group follows a special diet. After four weeks, the
reduction in each person’s blood pressure is recorded and the following data obtained:

Medication Exercise Diet

10 6 5
12 8 9
9 3 12
15 0 8
13 2 4

The researcher wishes to know whether the three methods are equivalent or not, if not which is the best method
to lower the blood pressure.

To answer these questions, we will explain how to use the ANOVA technique in the following section.

1|Ch.12
Section 12 – 1 : One-Way Analysis of Variance
Suppose that we want to compare population means, we can use the ANOVA technique only when the
following assumptions are satisfied:

Assumptions for ANOVA

1. The populations from which the samples were obtained must be normally distributed.
2. The samples must be independent from one another.
3. The variances of the populations must be equal.

To test whether there are differences between the population means, follow the steps below:

Step 1:

State the hypotheses and identify the claim

At least one mean is different from the others (not ).

Step 2:

Compute the test value. Even though you are comparing means in the ANOVA, variances are used in the test
instead of means. Two different estimates of the population variance are made.

1. The first estimate is called the between-group variance, (denoted by ), and it involves of finding the
variance of the means.
2. The second estimate is called the within group variance, (denoted by ), and it is made by computing
the variance using all the data and it is not affected by differences in the means.

If there is no difference in the means, the between-group variance estimate will be less than the within-group
variance estimate, and then the null hypothesis will not be rejected. However, when the means differ largely, the
between-group variance will be much larger than the within-group variance, and then the null hypothesis will be
rejected.

Since variances are compared, this procedure is called analysis of variance (ANOVA).

**How to evaluate the between-group variance ( ) and the within-group variance ( )

1. Evaluate the mean and the variance for each group, and
2. Evaluate the combined mean, , where is the number of
th
observations in the group and

2|Ch.12
 3. Then the between-group variance, , this formula finds the variance
among the means.

4. The within-group variance, this formula finds

an overall variance.
Note: The within-group variance is considered as an estimator of
5. Evaluate the test statistic

Step 3:

Determine the level of significance and find the critical value with degrees of freedom 1 equals
and degrees of freedom 2 equals . This critical value is obtained from the table of the -
distribution. ( )

Step 4:

Make the decision. The decision is to reject the null hypothesis, when the evaluated test statistic is
greater than the critical value

Step 5:

Summarize the results.

Example 1: Given the data in the above study case, test the claim that there is no difference among the means at

Solution:

1. State the hypotheses and identify the claim.

(claim) and At least one mean is different from the others
2. Compute the test statistic,
 Compute the means.
 Compute the variances.
 The combined mean is

 The between-group variance is

 The within-group variance,
 Evaluate the test statistic
3|Ch.12
 3. Find the critical value
 Degrees of freedom 1,
 Degrees of freedom 2,
 At
4. Make the decision. Since , the decision is to reject
5. Summarize the results. There is sufficient evidence to reject the claim and conclude that at least one
mean is different from the others.

Another Notation
In statistical programs, such as MINITAB, SPSS, R … etc, the calculations above are summarized in table as
follows:

Sum of Mean
Source Squares D.F. Squares
Between SSB MSB MSB/ MSE
Within (Error) SSW or SSE MSW or MSE
Total SST

In the table,

1. SSB = Sum of squares between groups = the numerator of

2. SSW or SSE = sum of squares within groups = the numerator of
3. number of groups
4. number of all observations
5. MSB = SSB/ (k – 1)
6. MSE = MSW = SSW/ .
7. MSB/ MSE

As an illustration, the ANOVA table for the previous example is constructed as follows:

Sum of Mean
Source Squares D.F. Squares
Between 160.13 80.07 9.17 3.89
Within (Error) 104.8 8.37
Total 264.93

Note: SST = SSB + SSE = .

4|Ch.12
Example 2: Complete the following ANOVA table, state the hypotheses, and make a decision.

Sum of Mean
Source Squares D.F. Squares
Between ___a___ __c__ __e__ __f__
Within (Error) 42.333 __b__ __d__
Total 92.950

Solution:

1. SST = SSB + SSE a = SSB = SST – SSE = 92.950 42.333 = 50.617

2. c = MSB = SSB / 3 = 50.617/3 = 16.872
3. b = 19 – 3 = 16
4. d = MSE = SSE/16 = 42.333/16 = 2.646
5. e = MSB/MSE = = 6.376
6. f= 3.24
7. versus At least one mean is different from the others
8. Reject since

Section 12 – 2 : The Scheffé Test

When the null hypothesis (all means are equal) is rejected, the researcher may want to know where the
difference among the means is. Several methods have been developed to determine where the significant
differences in the means lie after the ANOVA has been performed. Among the most commonly used tests is the
Scheffé test.

To conduct the Scheffé test, you must compare the means two at a time, using all possible combinations of
means. For example, if there are 3 means, the following comparisons must be done:

versus versus versus

To compare versus using Scheffé test

1. Evaluate the test statistic

2. The critical value is

3. If , this means that there is a significant difference between the two means and .

5|Ch.12
Example 3: Using the Scheffé test, test each pair of means in Example 1 to see whether a specific difference
exists, at

Solution:

1. For versus ,

2. For versus ,

3. For versus ,

4. The critical value is

5. Only so the two means that have a significant difference are and (there is a significant
difference between medication and exercise). While and have no significant difference and and
have no significant difference.

Example 4: The number of grams of fiber per serving for a random sample of three different kinds of food is
listed. Is there sufficient evidence at to conclude that there is a difference in mean fiber content
among breakfast cereals, fruits, and vegetables? Given the following data do a complete ANOVA and Scheffé
test, (if necessary).

Sample Sample Sample

Breakfast Data size mean variance
Cereals 3 4 6 4 10 5 9 8 5
Fruit 5.4 2 4.4 1.6 3.8 4.5 2.8
Vegetables 10 1.4 3.5 2.7 2.5 6.5 4 3

Solution:

1. State the hypotheses and identify the claim.

and At least one mean is different from the others (claim)
2. Compute the test statistic,
 Compute the means. , shown in the table above
 Compute the variances. , shown in the table above

 The combined mean is

 The between-group variance is

 The within-group variance,

 Evaluate the test statistic

6|Ch.12
 3. Find the critical value
 Degrees of freedom 1,
 Degrees of freedom 2,
 At
4. Make the decision. Since , the decision is to not reject
5. Summarize the results. There is no sufficient evidence to support the claim.
6. There is no need to use Scheffé test, since the null hypothesis is not rejected.
7. The ANOVA table is given below

Sum of Mean
Source Squares D.F. Squares
Between 27.232 13.616 2.514 3.47
Within (Error) 113.741 5.416
Total 140.973

PROBLEMS
1. In an experiment to determine the effect of nutrition on the attention spans of elementary school students, a
group of 15 students were randomly assigned to each of 3 meal plans: no breakfast, light breakfast, and full
breakfast. Their attention spans (in minutes) were recorded during a morning reading period and are shown
in the following table. Does the type of breakfast affect the attention spans? Test using

Breakfast Attention spans (min)

No 8 7 9 13 10
Light 14 16 12 17 11
Full 10 12 16 15 12

2. A researcher wishes to see whether there is any difference in the weight gains of athletes following one of
three special diets. Athletes are randomly assigned to three groups and placed on the diet for 6 weeks. The
weight gains (in pounds) are shown below. At , can the researcher conclude that there is a
difference in the diets?

Diet Weight gain

A 3 6 7 4 20 110
B 9 12 11 14 8 6 60 642
C 8 3 2 5 18 102

7|Ch.12
3. The amount of sodium (in mg) in one serving for a random sample three different kinds of foods is
measured and summarize in the following ANOVA table. Complete the table and test whether there is a
difference in mean sodium amounts among condiments, cereals, and desserts. Use

Sum of Mean
Source Squares D.F. Squares
Between 275.4 ______ ______ ______
Within (Error) _______ ______
Total 1366.3

See and solve the following examples and exercises from the text book:

Section 12 – 1
Examples: 1, 2
Exercises: 8, 9, 12, 14

Section 12 – 2
Examples: 3
Exercises: 3, 4, 11

8|Ch.12
 Percentage points of the F distribution ( )

df1
df2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 df2
1 161.4 199.5 215.7 224.6 230.2 234.0 236.8 238.9 240.5 241.9 1
2 18.51 19.00 19.16 19.25 19.30 19.33 19.35 19.37 19.38 19.40 2
3 10.13 9.55 9.28 9.12 9.01 8.94 8.89 8.85 8.81 8.79 3
4 7.71 6.94 6.59 6.39 6.26 6.16 6.09 6.04 6.00 5.96 4
5 6.61 5.79 5.41 5.19 5.05 4.95 4.88 4.82 4.77 4.74 5
6 5.99 5.14 4.76 4.53 4.39 4.28 4.21 4.15 4.10 4.06 6
7 5.59 4.74 4.35 4.12 3.97 3.87 3.79 3.73 3.68 3.64 7
8 5.32 4.46 4.07 3.84 3.69 3.58 3.50 3.44 3.39 3.35 8
9 5.12 4.26 3.86 3.63 3.48 3.37 3.29 3.23 3.18 3.14 9
10 4.96 4.10 3.71 3.48 3.33 3.22 3.14 3.07 3.02 2.98 10
11 4.84 3.98 3.59 3.36 3.20 3.09 3.01 2.95 2.90 2.85 11
12 4.75 3.89 3.49 3.26 3.11 3.00 2.91 2.85 2.80 2.75 12
13 4.67 3.81 3.41 3.18 3.03 2.92 2.83 2.77 2.71 2.67 13
14 4.60 3.74 3.34 3.11 2.96 2.85 2.76 2.70 2.65 2.60 14
15 4.54 3.68 3.29 3.06 2.90 2.79 2.71 2.64 2.59 2.54 15
16 4.49 3.63 3.24 3.01 2.85 2.74 2.66 2.59 2.54 2.49 16
17 4.45 3.59 3.20 2.96 2.81 2.70 2.61 2.55 2.49 2.45 17
18 4.41 3.55 3.16 2.93 2.77 2.66 2.58 2.51 2.46 2.41 18
19 4.38 3.52 3.13 2.90 2.74 2.63 2.54 2.48 2.42 2.38 19
20 4.35 3.49 3.10 2.87 2.71 2.60 2.51 2.45 2.39 2.35 20
21 4.32 3.47 3.07 2.84 2.68 2.57 2.49 2.42 2.37 2.32 21
22 4.30 3.44 3.05 2.82 2.66 2.55 2.46 2.40 2.34 2.30 22
23 4.28 3.42 3.03 2.80 2.64 2.53 2.44 2.37 2.32 2.27 23
24 4.26 3.40 3.01 2.78 2.62 2.51 2.42 2.36 2.30 2.25 24
25 4.24 3.39 2.99 2.76 2.60 2.49 2.40 2.34 2.28 2.24 25
26 4.23 3.37 2.98 2.74 2.59 2.47 2.39 2.32 2.27 2.22 26
27 4.21 3.35 2.96 2.73 2.57 2.46 2.37 2.31 2.25 2.20 27
28 4.20 3.34 2.95 2.71 2.56 2.45 2.36 2.29 2.24 2.19 28
29 4.18 3.33 2.93 2.70 2.55 2.43 2.35 2.28 2.22 2.18 29
30 4.17 3.32 2.92 2.69 2.53 2.42 2.33 2.27 2.21 2.16 30
40 4.08 3.23 2.84 2.61 2.45 2.34 2.25 2.18 2.12 2.08 40
60 4.00 3.15 2.76 2.53 2.37 2.25 2.17 2.10 2.04 1.99 60
120 3.92 3.07 2.68 2.45 2.29 2.17 2.09 2.02 1.96 1.91 120
3.84 3.00 2.60 2.37 2.21 2.10 2.01 1.94 1.63 1.83

9|Ch.12