Goodness of fit test - overview
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Goodness of fit test | One sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test | One sample $t$ test for the mean | Sign test |
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Independent variable | Independent variable | Independent variable | Independent variable | |
None | None | None | 2 paired groups | |
Dependent variable | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | |
One categorical with $J$ independent groups ($J \geqslant 2$) | One of ordinal level | One quantitative of interval or ratio level | One of ordinal level | |
Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | |
| H0: $m = m_0$
Here $m$ is the population median, and $m_0$ is the population median according to the null hypothesis. | H0: $\mu = \mu_0$
Here $\mu$ is the population mean, and $\mu_0$ is the population mean according to the null hypothesis. |
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Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | |
| H1 two sided: $m \neq m_0$ H1 right sided: $m > m_0$ H1 left sided: $m < m_0$ | H1 two sided: $\mu \neq \mu_0$ H1 right sided: $\mu > \mu_0$ H1 left sided: $\mu < \mu_0$ |
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Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | |
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Test statistic | Test statistic | Test statistic | Test statistic | |
$X^2 = \sum{\frac{(\mbox{observed cell count} - \mbox{expected cell count})^2}{\mbox{expected cell count}}}$
Here the expected cell count for one cell = $N \times \pi_j$, the observed cell count is the observed sample count in that same cell, and the sum is over all $J$ cells. | Two different types of test statistics can be used, but both will result in the same test outcome. We will denote the first option the $W_1$ statistic (also known as the $T$ statistic), and the second option the $W_2$ statistic.
In order to compute each of the test statistics, follow the steps below:
| $t = \dfrac{\bar{y} - \mu_0}{s / \sqrt{N}}$
Here $\bar{y}$ is the sample mean, $\mu_0$ is the population mean according to the null hypothesis, $s$ is the sample standard deviation, and $N$ is the sample size. The denominator $s / \sqrt{N}$ is the standard error of the sampling distribution of $\bar{y}$. The $t$ value indicates how many standard errors $\bar{y}$ is removed from $\mu_0$. | $W = $ number of difference scores that is larger than 0 | |
Sampling distribution of $X^2$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $W_1$ and of $W_2$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $W$ if H0 were true | |
Approximately the chi-squared distribution with $J - 1$ degrees of freedom | Sampling distribution of $W_1$:
If $N_r$ is large, $W_1$ is approximately normally distributed with mean $\mu_{W_1}$ and standard deviation $\sigma_{W_1}$ if the null hypothesis were true. Here $$\mu_{W_1} = \frac{N_r(N_r + 1)}{4}$$ $$\sigma_{W_1} = \sqrt{\frac{N_r(N_r + 1)(2N_r + 1)}{24}}$$ Hence, if $N_r$ is large, the standardized test statistic $$z = \frac{W_1 - \mu_{W_1}}{\sigma_{W_1}}$$ follows approximately the standard normal distribution if the null hypothesis were true. Sampling distribution of $W_2$: If $N_r$ is large, $W_2$ is approximately normally distributed with mean $0$ and standard deviation $\sigma_{W_2}$ if the null hypothesis were true. Here $$\sigma_{W_2} = \sqrt{\frac{N_r(N_r + 1)(2N_r + 1)}{6}}$$ Hence, if $N_r$ is large, the standardized test statistic $$z = \frac{W_2}{\sigma_{W_2}}$$ follows approximately the standard normal distribution if the null hypothesis were true. If $N_r$ is small, the exact distribution of $W_1$ or $W_2$ should be used. Note: if ties are present in the data, the formula for the standard deviations $\sigma_{W_1}$ and $\sigma_{W_2}$ is more complicated. | $t$ distribution with $N - 1$ degrees of freedom | The exact distribution of $W$ under the null hypothesis is the Binomial($n$, $P$) distribution, with $n =$ number of positive differences $+$ number of negative differences, and $P = 0.5$.
If $n$ is large, $W$ is approximately normally distributed under the null hypothesis, with mean $nP = n \times 0.5$ and standard deviation $\sqrt{nP(1-P)} = \sqrt{n \times 0.5(1 - 0.5)}$. Hence, if $n$ is large, the standardized test statistic $$z = \frac{W - n \times 0.5}{\sqrt{n \times 0.5(1 - 0.5)}}$$ follows approximately the standard normal distribution if the null hypothesis were true. | |
Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | |
| For large samples, the table for standard normal probabilities can be used: Two sided:
| Two sided:
| If $n$ is small, the table for the binomial distribution should be used: Two sided:
If $n$ is large, the table for standard normal probabilities can be used: Two sided:
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n.a. | n.a. | $C\%$ confidence interval for $\mu$ | n.a. | |
- | - | $\bar{y} \pm t^* \times \dfrac{s}{\sqrt{N}}$
where the critical value $t^*$ is the value under the $t_{N-1}$ distribution with the area $C / 100$ between $-t^*$ and $t^*$ (e.g. $t^*$ = 2.086 for a 95% confidence interval when df = 20). The confidence interval for $\mu$ can also be used as significance test. | - | |
n.a. | n.a. | Effect size | n.a. | |
- | - | Cohen's $d$: Standardized difference between the sample mean and $\mu_0$: $$d = \frac{\bar{y} - \mu_0}{s}$$ Cohen's $d$ indicates how many standard deviations $s$ the sample mean $\bar{y}$ is removed from $\mu_0.$ | - | |
n.a. | n.a. | Visual representation | n.a. | |
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n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Equivalent to | |
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Two sided sign test is equivalent to
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Example context | Example context | Example context | Example context | |
Is the proportion of people with a low, moderate, and high social economic status in the population different from $\pi_{low} = 0.2,$ $\pi_{moderate} = 0.6,$ and $\pi_{high} = 0.2$? | Is the median mental health score of office workers different from $m_0 = 50$? | Is the average mental health score of office workers different from $\mu_0 = 50$? | Do people tend to score higher on mental health after a mindfulness course? | |
SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | |
Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > Chi-square...
| Specify the measurement level of your variable on the Variable View tab, in the column named Measure. Then go to:
Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > One Sample...
| Analyze > Compare Means > One-Sample T Test...
| Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > 2 Related Samples...
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Jamovi | Jamovi | Jamovi | Jamovi | |
Frequencies > N Outcomes - $\chi^2$ Goodness of fit
| T-Tests > One Sample T-Test
| T-Tests > One Sample T-Test
| Jamovi does not have a specific option for the sign test. However, you can do the Friedman test instead. The $p$ value resulting from this Friedman test is equivalent to the two sided $p$ value that would have resulted from the sign test. Go to:
ANOVA > Repeated Measures ANOVA - Friedman
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Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | |