Psy 234 Week 13

Non-Parametric Tests
Week 13
Content
01 What are Non-parametric Tests?
02 Types of Non-parametric Tests
03 Examples
Non-parametric Tests?
- While most common statistical analyses (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA) are parametric,
they need to fulfil a number of criteria before we use them
- These criteria include satisfying the assumptions of outliers, linearity,
normality, homoscedasticity, to name a few
- If the data do not fulfil the criteria to conduct the parametric tests, we can opt
for non-parametric tests, which do not require those assumptions
- Do note that non-parametric tests make less assumptions, not no
assumptions!
- The trade-off is that non-parametric tests are generally lower in power
Types of Non-parametric Tests
- In this set of slides, the focus is on 4 non-parametric tests
- Each of these 4 tests is a non-parametric version of t-tests and ANOVAs
Parametric Test Non-parametric Test

Between Subjects t-test Mann-Whitney U Test
Within Subjects t-test Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test

One-way Between
Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA
Subjects ANOVA
One-way Within
Friedman’s ANOVA
Subjects ANOVA
Mann-Whitney U Test
“A researcher is interested in finding out if there are

differences in teenagers’ and young adults’ levels of
physical well-being (rated 1-100). He recruited 10
teenagers and 10 adults for the experiment.”
In this case, the IV is age group, and DV is

physical well-being
Mann-Whitney U Test - SPSS
Assume that the data has multiple

outliers, which is why the researcher
opted to conduct a Mann-Whitney U
test, rather than a t-test.
Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests ->

Legacy Dialogs -> 2 Independent
Samples…
1. Move PhysicalWellBeing (DV) to the
right under Test Variable List
2. Move AgeGroup (IV) as our Grouping
Variable
3. Then define groups by clicking on
Define Groups
4. Input ‘1’ and ‘2’ as groups 1 and 2
respectively
5. Continue and OK!
In a Mann-Whitney test,
SPSS ranks the data Mann-Whitney U score =
(e.g., the lowest score of 20.5, p = .03
physical wellbeing gets a
rank of 1, the next lowest Given an alpha value
score gets a rank of 2. of .05, there is a significant
difference in teenagers’
The value here displays and adults’ self reported
the average of the physical wellbeing
rankings
Looking at the mean ranks,
on average, teenagers
This is the sum of all reported higher physical
rankings in each group wellbeing than adults
of the IV
Parametric Test Non-parametric Version
One-way Between
Subjects ANOVA
One-way Within
Friedman’s ANOVA
Subjects ANOVA
Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test
A researcher wants to find out if implementing a

reading program will help improve reading
speed. The researcher recruited 50 participants
to enrol in the reading program, and recorded
their reading speed (in seconds) at 2 time
periods: before and after the reading program.
Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test - SPSS
Assume that the researcher only

managed to recruit 10 participants,
and opted to conduct a Wilcoxon
signed ranked test, rather than a
within subjects t-test.
Analyze -> Nonparametrics

Tests -> Legacy Dialogs -> 2
Related Samples….
1. Move Pretest and Posttest as

Pair 1
2. Tick Wilcoxon in Test type
3. OK!
The legend shows We are interested in the test

statistic, which is -2.70 (Do
how negative,
note that in this case, this value
positive, and tied is based on positive ranks)
ranks are calculated.
For example, there p value is .007
are 9 cases where a
Given an alpha value of .05,
posttest score is there is a significant difference
lower than a pretest between pre-test and posttest
score. This means scores
that in 9 of the 10
participants, reading Based on mean ranks,
participants’ reading speed
speed improved after
improved after the reading
intervention program
One-way Between
Subjects ANOVA
One-way Within
Friedman’s ANOVA
Subjects ANOVA
Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA
A researcher is interested in finding out

if there is a difference in physical
well-being (rated 1-100) among
teenagers, young adults, and
seniors. He recruited 10 teenagers, 10
adults, and 10 seniors for the
experiment.
In this case, the IV is age group,

and DV is physical well-being
Assume that the data did not meet the

criteria of parametric tests, thus the
researcher opted to conduct a Kruskal-
Wallis test.
Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests ->

Legacy Dialogs -> K Independent
Samples….
1. Move PhysicalWellBeing into the

test variable list box, and
AgeGroup into the grouping
variable box
2. Tick Kruskal-Wallis H under Test
type
3. Then define the grouping variable
(Define Range)
4. Go to Options and select
Descriptives
To define groups:
5. In our dataset, Teenagers were
coded as ‘1’, Adults as ‘2’, and
Seniors as ‘3’
6. Hence, the range for our
grouping variable is 1-3; with a
minimum of 1 and maximum of 3
7. Click Continue, and OK
Similar to Mann-
Whitney U tests, SPSS Kruskal-Wallis H score
ranks the data (e.g., the = 7.50, p = .024
lowest score of physical
wellbeing gets a rank of Given an alpha value
1, the next lowest score of .05, there is a
gets a rank of 2. significant difference
between teenagers’,
The value here displays adults’, and seniors’
the average of the self reported physical
rankings wellbeing
However
• Although we now know that there is a significant difference between

the 3 groups, we do not know exactly where the difference(s) lie
• It could lie between teenagers and adults, adults and seniors,

teenagers and seniors, or even all of the above
• To test this, we conduct a post-hoc series of Mann-Whitney U tests

to find out the answer (you can find out more on Mann-Whitney U
tests in the earlier example)
Write-Up
An example write-up can be found on page 294 in
Allen, P., Bennett, K., & Heritage, B. (2019). SPSS Statistics:

A Practical Guide (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.
One-way Between
Subjects ANOVA
One-way Within
Friedman’s ANOVA
Subjects ANOVA
Friedman’s ANOVA
A researcher wants to find out if implementing a

reading program will help improve reading
speed. The researcher recruited 50 participants
to enrol in the reading program, and recorded
their reading speed (in seconds) at 3 time
periods: before and after the reading program,
and at one month follow-up.
Friedman’s ANOVA - SPSS
Assume that the data did not meet

the criteria of parametric tests, thus
the researcher opted to conduct a
Friedman’s ANOVA.
Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests -

> Legacy Dialogs -> K Related
Samples….
1. Move Pretest, Posttest, and

OneMonthFollowup inot the test
variables box
2. Tick Friedman in Test type
3. Go to Statistics and select
Descriptives
4. OK!
Chi-square statistic = 12.2, p

= .002
Given an alpha value of .05,

there is a significant difference
between pre-test, postttest, and
the one month follow up
However
• Just like the Kruskal-Wallis test, although we now know that there is
a significant difference between the three groups, we do not know
exactly where the difference(s) lie
• Simply by eyeballing the mean ranks, we can probably guess that
the difference comes from the improvement from pre-test to post-test
(2.9 vs 1.6), but not so much from the post-test to one month follow-
up (1.6 vs 1.5)
• To confirm this, we can conduct a series of post-hoc Wilcoxon
Signed Ranks tests (you can find out more in the earlier example on
Wilcoxon)

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Non-Parametric Tests

01 What are Non-parametric Tests?

02 Types of Non-parametric Tests

Parametric Test Non-parametric Test

Within Subjects t-test Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test

“A researcher is interested in finding out if there are

In this case, the IV is age group, and DV is

Assume that the data has multiple

Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests ->

Between Subjects t-test Mann-Whitney U Test

Within Subjects t-test Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test

A researcher wants to find out if implementing a

Assume that the researcher only

Analyze -> Nonparametrics

1. Move Pretest and Posttest as

The legend shows We are interested in the test

Between Subjects t-test Mann-Whitney U Test

Within Subjects t-test Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test

A researcher is interested in finding out

In this case, the IV is age group,

Assume that the data did not meet the

Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests ->

1. Move PhysicalWellBeing into the

• Although we now know that there is a significant difference between

• It could lie between teenagers and adults, adults and seniors,

• To test this, we conduct a post-hoc series of Mann-Whitney U tests

An example write-up can be found on page 294 in

Allen, P., Bennett, K., & Heritage, B. (2019). SPSS Statistics:

Between Subjects t-test Mann-Whitney U Test

Within Subjects t-test Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test

A researcher wants to find out if implementing a

Assume that the data did not meet

Analyze -> Nonparametrics Tests -

1. Move Pretest, Posttest, and

Chi-square statistic = 12.2, p

Given an alpha value of .05,

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