Goodness of fit test - overview
This page offers structured overviews of one or more selected methods. Add additional methods for comparisons by clicking on the dropdown button in the right-hand column. To practice with a specific method click the button at the bottom row of the table
Goodness of fit test | Paired sample $t$ test | Kruskal-Wallis test | McNemar's test |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Independent variable | Independent variable | Independent/grouping variable | Independent variable | |
None | 2 paired groups | One categorical with $I$ independent groups ($I \geqslant 2$) | 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 categorical with 2 independent groups | |
Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | Null hypothesis | |
| H0: $\mu = \mu_0$
Here $\mu$ is the population mean of the difference scores, and $\mu_0$ is the population mean of the difference scores according to the null hypothesis, which is usually 0. A difference score is the difference between the first score of a pair and the second score of a pair. | If the dependent variable is measured on a continuous scale and the shape of the distribution of the dependent variable is the same in all $I$ populations:
Formulation 1:
| Let's say that the scores on the dependent variable are scored 0 and 1. Then for each pair of scores, the data allow four options:
Other formulations of the null hypothesis are:
| |
Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | Alternative hypothesis | |
| H1 two sided: $\mu \neq \mu_0$ H1 right sided: $\mu > \mu_0$ H1 left sided: $\mu < \mu_0$ | If the dependent variable is measured on a continuous scale and the shape of the distribution of the dependent variable is the same in all $I$ populations:
Formulation 1:
| The alternative hypothesis H1 is that for each pair of scores, P(first score of pair is 0 while second score of pair is 1) $\neq$ P(first score of pair is 1 while second score of pair is 0). That is, the probability that a pair of scores switches from 0 to 1 is not the same as the probability that a pair of scores switches from 1 to 0. Other formulations of the alternative hypothesis are:
| |
Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | Assumptions | |
|
|
|
| |
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 of the difference scores, $\mu_0$ is the population mean of the difference scores according to the null hypothesis, $s$ is the sample standard deviation of the difference scores, and $N$ is the sample size (number of difference scores). 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 $\mu_0$. | $H = \dfrac{12}{N (N + 1)} \sum \dfrac{R^2_i}{n_i} - 3(N + 1)$ | $X^2 = \dfrac{(b - c)^2}{b + c}$
Here $b$ is the number of pairs in the sample for which the first score is 0 while the second score is 1, and $c$ is the number of pairs in the sample for which the first score is 1 while the second score is 0. | |
Sampling distribution of $X^2$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $t$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $H$ if H0 were true | Sampling distribution of $X^2$ if H0 were true | |
Approximately the chi-squared distribution with $J - 1$ degrees of freedom | $t$ distribution with $N - 1$ degrees of freedom | For large samples, approximately the chi-squared distribution with $I - 1$ degrees of freedom. For small samples, the exact distribution of $H$ should be used. | If $b + c$ is large enough (say, > 20), approximately the chi-squared distribution with 1 degree of freedom. If $b + c$ is small, the Binomial($n$, $P$) distribution should be used, with $n = b + c$ and $P = 0.5$. In that case the test statistic becomes equal to $b$. | |
Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | Significant? | |
| Two sided:
| For large samples, the table with critical $X^2$ values can be used. If we denote $X^2 = H$:
| For test statistic $X^2$:
| |
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 of the difference scores and $\mu_0$: $$d = \frac{\bar{y} - \mu_0}{s}$$ Cohen's $d$ indicates how many standard deviations $s$ the sample mean of the difference scores $\bar{y}$ is removed from $\mu_0.$ | - | - | |
n.a. | Visual representation | n.a. | n.a. | |
- | ![]() | - | - | |
n.a. | Equivalent to | n.a. | Equivalent to | |
- |
| - |
| |
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 difference between the mental health scores before and after an intervention different from $\mu_0 = 0$? | Do people from different religions tend to score differently on social economic status? | Does a tv documentary about spiders change whether people are afraid (yes/no) of spiders? | |
SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | SPSS | |
Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > Chi-square...
| Analyze > Compare Means > Paired-Samples T Test...
| Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > K Independent Samples...
| Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > 2 Related Samples...
| |
Jamovi | Jamovi | Jamovi | Jamovi | |
Frequencies > N Outcomes - $\chi^2$ Goodness of fit
| T-Tests > Paired Samples T-Test
| ANOVA > One Way ANOVA - Kruskal-Wallis
| Frequencies > Paired Samples - McNemar test
| |
Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | Practice questions | |