Goodness of fit test - overview
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Goodness of fit test | One sample $t$ test for the mean | Friedman test | Wilcoxon signed-rank test |
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Independent variable | Independent variable | Independent/grouping variable | Independent variable | |
None | None | One within subject factor ($\geq 2$ related groups) | 2 paired groups | |
Dependent variable | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | Dependent variable | |
One categorical with $J$ independent groups ($J \geqslant 2$) | One quantitative of interval or ratio level | One of ordinal level | One quantitative of interval or ratio level | |
Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | |
| H0: $\mu = \mu_0$
Here $\mu$ is the population mean, and $\mu_0$ is the population mean according to the null hypothesis. | H0: the population scores in any of the related groups are not systematically higher or lower than the population scores in any of the other related groups
Usually the related groups are the different measurement points. Several different formulations of the null hypothesis can be found in the literature, and we do not agree with all of them. Make sure you (also) learn the one that is given in your text book or by your teacher. | H0: $m = 0$
Here $m$ is the population median of the difference scores. A difference score is the difference between the first score of a pair and the second score of a pair. Several different formulations of the null hypothesis can be found in the literature, and we do not agree with all of them. Make sure you (also) learn the one that is given in your text book or by your teacher. | |
Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | |
| H1 two sided: $\mu \neq \mu_0$ H1 right sided: $\mu > \mu_0$ H1 left sided: $\mu < \mu_0$ | H1: the population scores in some of the related groups are systematically higher or lower than the population scores in other related groups | H1 two sided: $m \neq 0$ H1 right sided: $m > 0$ H1 left sided: $m < 0$ | |
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. | $t = \dfrac{\bar{y} - \mu_0}{s / \sqrt{N}}$
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 $\mu_0$. | $Q = \dfrac{12}{N \times k(k + 1)} \sum R^2_i - 3 \times N(k + 1)$
Here $N$ is the number of 'blocks' (usually the subjects - so if you have 4 repeated measurements for 60 subjects, $N$ equals 60), $k$ is the number of related groups (usually the number of repeated measurements), and $R_i$ is the sum of ranks in group $i$. Remember that multiplication precedes addition, so first compute $\frac{12}{N \times k(k + 1)} \times \sum R^2_i$ and then subtract $3 \times N(k + 1)$. Note: if ties are present in the data, the formula for $Q$ is more complicated. | 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:
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Sampling distribution of $X^2$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $Q$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $W_1$ and of $W_2$ if H0 were true | |
Approximately the chi-squared distribution with $J - 1$ degrees of freedom | $t$ distribution with $N - 1$ degrees of freedom | If the number of blocks $N$ is large, approximately the chi-squared distribution with $k - 1$ degrees of freedom.
For small samples, the exact distribution of $Q$ should be used. | 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. | |
Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | |
| Two sided:
| If the number of blocks $N$ is large, the table with critical $X^2$ values can be used. If we denote $X^2 = Q$:
| For large samples, the table for standard normal probabilities can be used: Two sided:
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n.a. | $C\%$ confidence interval for $\mu$ | n.a. | 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. | Effect size | n.a. | 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. | Visual representation | n.a. | n.a. | |
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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 average mental health score of office workers different from $\mu_0 = 50$? | Is there a difference in depression level between measurement point 1 (pre-intervention), measurement point 2 (1 week post-intervention), and measurement point 3 (6 weeks post-intervention)? | Is the median of the differences between the mental health scores before and after an intervention different from 0? | |
SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | |
Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > Chi-square...
| Analyze > Compare Means > One-Sample T Test...
| Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > K Related Samples...
| 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
| ANOVA > Repeated Measures ANOVA - Friedman
| T-Tests > Paired Samples T-Test
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Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | |