Understanding Nature of Research Data

Prof.J.P.Verma
MSc(Stat), PhD, MA(Psycho), MCA
Director, Centre for Advanced Studies
Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education Gwalior
Email: vermajp@sancharnet.in

A statistical process can be defined as the type of statistical analysis that is used by the
researcher in his research study. Before discussing about different types of statistical
techniques let us first see how many types of statistical processes can be encountered in
research and what are the appropriate statistical techniques used to solve these problems.
Broadly the research processes can be divided into five categories. These are as follows:

Descriptive Process

Descriptive process refers to describing the characteristics of a group of individuals, an

organization, or group of similar entities. In such studies one describes various characteristics
of the subjects under study. Such studies not only provide interesting findings but also help in
decision making process. Findings in the descriptive studies at times may provide further
research issues for investigation. The statistics that are used in descriptive studies are known
as descriptive statistics. Such statistics are mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation,
range, skewness, kurtosis etc. There may be varieties of situations where descriptive studies
may be undertaken. For instance, such study can be planned to know the profile of Indian
wrestlers. In such case the statistics like mean, range, standard deviation, skewness and
kurtosis etc. on different parameters like height, weight, total body fat, endurance, flexibility
and strength may be computed to understand different characteristics of the Indian wrestlers.
Similarly, a case study on any particular celebrity in sports also comes under descriptive
study, in such case different descriptive statistics are calculated on the data obtained on the
same subjects at different point of time.

Comparative Process

All those studies where the researcher is interested to compare two or more groups come
under this category. Often we may be interested in comparing the effect of two training
programmes, comparing anxiety between male and female players or comparing the IQ of
high and low performers in sports. All such studies can be categorized as comparative
process. The statistics that are used in comparative studies are known as comparative
statistics. Such statistics are Z, t, F and chi square. In comparing more than two group means
the statistical technique like analysis of variance is used to analyze the data.

Relationship Process

In relationship process the researcher is usually more interested in exploring the relationships
between different parameters. For instance one may be interested to know the relationship of
leg length, reaction time, leg strength with that of 100 meter performance. Similarly one may
like to determine the relationship between fat percentage and age with cardio respiratory
endurance. In such studies the relationship statistics such as correlation coefficient partial and
multiple correlation are used to investigate the relationship.

Inferential Process

In inferential process the conclusion about the population characteristics are drawn on the
basis of sample information. The techniques like statistical estimation and testing of
hypothesis are used to draw inferences about the population characteristics. The studies such
as; estimating students IQ in a college on the basis of a sample of students or comparing the
agility of gymnasts and basketball players on the basis of two samples obtained from the
college gymnasts and basketball players, comes under inferential process. The statistical
techniques such as point estimation, confidence interval, t, F and Z tests, analysis of variance
are used to analyze the data in such studies.

Predictive Process

Predictive processes are used in such studies where we try to predict the future happening on
the basis of the sample information. There is a difference between inferential process and
predictive process. In predictive process a phenomenon that does not exist as of now is
estimated on the basis of the sample information. On the other hand in the inferential process
a phenomenon about the population that exists but not known is estimated on the basis of the
sample information. Consider a study in which it is desired to know as to whether a particular
student would qualify a competitive examination on the basis of his mathematical ability,
reasoning ability and IQ scores. In such study predictive process is used because the
happening of the event i.e. result of the competitive examination is not known at the time of
predicting his chances of being successful on the basis of his other traits. The statistical
techniques such as regression analysis and multiple correlation are used to analyze the data in
such situations.

Measurement of Data
Everyday enormous data is generated in the field of sports and physical education by the
researchers’. But all these data so obtained such as timing event, gender, athlete’s ranking,
classification etc requires different approach of statistical analysis. It is so because the same
data may represent different things depending upon the trait it indicates. For instance,
consider the two numbers 20 and 40, which may represent the marks obtained by the two
students, ranking of the two athletes or it may be the chest numbers of two athletes.
Although 40 is just the double of 20 but it makes no sense in comparing if they indicate the
chest numbers of athletes because in that case it is just a number to distinguish the two
athletes and does not carry any meaning. Similarly if these two numbers represent the
ranking of two athletes, computing average becomes meaningless as the average of the two
marks makes sense because they are just ranks. The appropriateness of statistical technique
used for data analysis depends upon the level of measurement of the data collected. Thus, the
researcher must know the level of measurement of the data before identifying the statistical
technique for data analysis. In general the data is measured on four different levels namely
nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio.
Nominal Level

The nominal level data is obtained by measuring the data at the lowest level. The data so
obtained is often termed as nominal data. The numbers representing the nominal level data is
used only to classify or categorize. If in a survey study male is represented as 1 and female as
0 then these numbers simply denote the category an individual belongs to and does not carry
any meaning. Similarly if Christian is coded as 1, the Jewish as 2 and Hindu as 3 then these
numbers should be used only for classifying an individual. The number 3 does not indicate
higher category infact it is used to simply identify an individual as Hindu and no other
meaning should be attached to it. Some other types of variables that often produce nominal
data are level of participation, sports specialization, smoking status, body types etc. There
are very limited statistical techniques that can be used for nominal data. The chi-square is
the most widely used statistics for analyzing such data.

Ordinal Level

The level of measurement of ordinal level data is higher than that of nominal level. In
addition to the capability of nominal level data the ordinal level measurement can be used to
rank the individuals or objects. By using ordinal data a coach can evaluate five soccer players
by ranking their competencies on playing ability with the numbers 1 to 5. The player with
ranking 1 is extremely good player whereas the one with the rank 5 is the least competent
player. However in ordinal data spacing between any two consecutive numbers may not be
the same. For example the difference in the competencies between the rank 1 and 2 players
may not be the same in comparison to the difference in competencies of the players with rank
2 and 3. Another example of the ordinal level data is the ranking of students on the basis of
their intelligence, nature, extrovertness etc. Few specific statistical techniques are used to
analyze the ordinal data.

The nominal and ordinal data are usually obtained by the imprecise measurements. Such data
are obtained when there are no objective criteria of assessment. Due to this reason the
nominal and ordinal data are said to be non-metric data. These non-metric data are also
referred as qualitative data or non-parametric data as well.

Interval Level
The interval data is a higher level of measurement in comparison to the ordinal data. In the
interval data the difference between any two consecutive numbers makes sense unlike the
ordinal data. The interval data can be graded either in ascending or descending order and in
addition, the distance between any two consecutive numbers on the scale is same
The temperature measurement on Fahrenheit scale is an example of interval data. For
example the temperature readings on the Fahrenheit scale such as 250, 270 and 290 can be
ranked and the difference between the consecutive readings is same. In other words quantum
of heat between 250 and 270 is equal to the amount of heat between the 270 and 290.
In the interval data there is no real zero exists. Zero is a matter of convenience in such data
and it does not indicate the absence of phenomenon. For example the zero on Fahrenheit
does not mean the lowest possible temperature. Thus, ratio of the two consecutive numbers is
not the same. For instance, the 400 temperature is not the double of 200. In other words the
doubling principle fails in interval data. Other examples of the interval data are the attitude
ratings, level of body flexibility, frustration level etc.

Ratio Level

The data obtained in the ratio level measurement is the highest level of measurement. The
ratio data has the similar property as interval data. The most important feature of the ratio
data is that it has an absolute zero and the ratio of the two numbers is meaningful. The
absolute zero means the absence of the phenomena. For instance the height is a ratio data. In
this there is a natural zero exists. Zero height is the indication of absence of height. If the
heights of three persons are 35, 50 and 70 inches then they can be ranked as per their height
and one can say that the person having height 50 inches is taller than that of the person with
35 inches. Thus, unlike the nominal data here the numbers has a meaning. Further, doubling
principle holds as one can infer that 70 inches person is taller double than the one having 35
inches height. This was not the case in interval data as no natural zero exists there. Thus,
ratio data posses the characteristics of all the three levels of data i.e. nominal, ordinal and
interval as well. Other examples of ratio data are weight, biceps, chest circumference, skin-
fold measurement, timings etc.
Since the interval and ratio data are obtained through precise measurement hence they are
termed as metric data or quantitative data. Metric data is also known as parametric data.

Parametric and Non-parametric Statistics

All statistical techniques can be classified into parametric and non-parametric. Parametric
statistics are used when the data are measured either on interval or ratio scale whereas, the
non-parametric statistics are used for the data that are measured either on nominal or ordinal
scale. The statistics such as mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, Z, t and F are
known as parametric statistics whereas median, quartile deviation, Runs, Mann-Whitney U
statistic and Kruskal Wallis H statistic are known as non-parametric statistics. Parametric
tests are more powerful than the non parametric tests provided required assumptions about
the data are satisfied. One of the major assumptions for using parametric tests is that of
normality. The data must be normally distributed in order to use parametric tests. The detail
discussion about these statistics and tests has been made in different chapters of this book.
The statistical techniques used for the data measured at any level of measurement can be
used for the data measured at the higher level of measurement but cannot be used for the data
measured at the lower level of measurement. For instance, all statistical techniques that can
be used for nominal data can also be used for the ordinal data but the techniques that are
applicable for interval data cannot be used for ordinal data. Thus, all those statistical
techniques that can be used for interval, ordinal or nominal level data can also be used for
ratio data. However, some of the statistical techniques specifically require data to be
measured on ratio scale only. Chapters 13 and 14 are specifically meant for the non-
parametric statistics whereas in all other chapters parametric statistics have been discussed in
detail.

Testing normality of the data

Normality of data can be tested by using skewness and kurtosis. Skewness measures
symmetricity of the curve whereas kurtosis assesses whether the curve peakedness is
comparable to the normal curve or not. For a curve to be normal curve it should be
symmetrical as well as mesokurtic in nature. In other words both skewness and kurtosis
should be 0 for a normal distribution, so the farther away from 0, the more non-normal the
distribution. The details of these two characteristics are discussed below.

Skewness

Skewness measures lack of symmetry of the curve. If the curve is not symmetrical it is said
to skewed or asymmetrical. In a symmetrical curve the mean, median and mode coincides.
The normal curve is a symmetrical curve and therefore mean median and mode are same in
the normal distribution. Skewness is represented by β1 and is computed by the following
formula.

2
3
1 3
, 1 1
2

Where, µ2 and µ3 are the second and third central moment. A generalized formula for
computing rth central moment is

1 r
r X X
n

The skewness of the curve can be positive or negative. If the value of 1 is 0 the curve is
symmetrical. However, if 1 is greater than 0 the curve is said to be positively skewed and if
it is less than 0 it is negatively skewed. In positively skewed curve the tail is more stretched
on the right side in comparison to the left side and the mean is more than the mode. This
means that in the positively skewed data large number of scores is less than the mean. The
Figure 5.7 (a) shows the positively skewed curve.

On the other hand in negatively skewed curve the tail is more stretched on the left side in
comparison to the right side and the mean is less than mode. This indicates that in the
negatively skewed data large number of scores is more than the mean. The Figure 5.7 (b)
shows the negatively skewed curve.

Positively skewed curve , 1> 0 Negatively skewed curve , 1< 0

5.7 (a) 5.7(b)

Figure 5.7(a &b) Curves with different skewness

One must note that the normal curve is symmetrical but all symmetrical curve need not
necessarily be the normal curve. To find whether the distribution of scores is significantly
skewed or not it is required to compute the standard error(SE) of the skewness. The SE error
of the skewness is given by

6n (n 1)
SE( 1 )
(n 2)(n 1)(n 3)

Where n is the sample size. In general the value of skewness (absolute value) more than
twice its standard error, indicates a departure from symmetry.

Kurtosis

Kurtosis can be defined as a measure for describing the distribution of data around the mean.
It can be used to find whether the distribution is more or less peaked than the normal
distribution. The normal curve is known as mesokurtic curve. The curve more peaked than
the normal curve is known as leptokurtic curve whereas the one which is less peaked than the
normal curve is known as platykurtic. The kurtosis is denoted by 2 and is computed by the
following formula:

2 2 3

Where 2
4
2
and μ2 and μ4 are the second and fourth central moments. 2
4
2
2 2

Figure 5.8 Curves with different kurtosis

For a mesokurtic curve 2 is 0 and for a leptokurtic curve it is greater than 0 whereas for a
platykurtic curve it is less than 0. Here it is worth mentioning that all the normal curves are
mesokurtic but all the mesokurtic curves need not necessarily be the normal. It is because of
the fact that the mesokurtic curve may not be symmetrical at times. All three kinds of the
curves have been shown in the Figure 5.8.

For a normal distribution, kurtosis ( 2) is 0. To check whether kurtosis is significantly

higher or lower than 0 or not it is required to compute the standard error(SE) of the kurtosis.
The SE error of the kurtosis is given by
n2 1
SE ( 2 ) 2 SE ( 1 )
(n 3)(n 5)

Where SE( 1 ) is the standard error of the skewness and n is the sample size. In general the
value of kurtosis (absolute value) greater than twice its standard error indicates that it is
significant.

Test for normality

The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S) and Shapiro-Wilk (S-W) test are the established tests
for testing the normality of data by taking into account the value of both skewness and
kurtosis. These tests allow you to test the normality of data by comparing the distribution of
sample data to the normal distribution. The data are normal if these tests are not significant.
Thus if the significance value (p-value) of these tests are more than 0.05 the data is
considered to be normal otherwise non-normal. Consider the data on sit-ups performance and
height obtained on 25 subjects in a random sample as shown in the Table 5.4.

Table 5.4 Data on sit-ups and height

_______________________________

Sit-ups(in nos.) Height(in ft.)

_______________________________
24.00 5.40
30.00 5.50
22.00 5.50
42.00 5.60
38.00 5.60
21.00 5.60
24.00 5.70
30.00 5.70
22.00 5.70
24.00 5.70
23.00 5.80
23.00 5.80
28.00 5.80
24.00 5.90
21.00 5.90
45.00 6.00
24.00 5.80
23.00 5.50
28.00 5.60
30.00 5.60
22.00 5.70
28.00 5.70
24.00 5.70
45.00 5.80
42.00 5.90
______________________________

The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test applied on these data are
shown in the Table 5.5. Looking to the values of these tests in the Table 5.5 it may be
concluded that the data on sit-ups is non-normal whereas height is normal. Because the
Shapiro-Wilk test for the sit-ups is significant whereas for height it is insignificant.

Table 5.5 Tests of normality

_______________________________________________________________
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Shapiro-Wilk

Statistics df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

___________ ____________________________________________________
Sit-ups .269 25 .000 .785 25 .000
Height .140 25 .200 .963 25 .484
_______________________________________________________________

The Shapiro-Wilk Test is more appropriate for small sample sizes (n< 50) but can also be
used for sample sizes as large as 2000. Due to this reason this test is widely used for
assessing the normality.

One of the limitations of these tests is that in case of large sample you are more likely to get
significant results. In other words these tests become significant even for slight deviation
from normality in case of large sample.

Normal Q-Q plot for normality

Normality of the data can also be checked by the graphics. The “Normal Q-Q Plot” is a
graphical way to check the level of normality of the data. The line indicates that the value of
your sample should fall on it or close by if the data follows normal distribution. The dots
represent the data points in the sample. If these points deviate much from the line, it indicates
that your data is non-normal. The Normal Q-Q Plot obtained on the data mentioned in the
Table 5.4 are shown in Figure 5.9. In figure 5.9(a) the data deviates from the line indicating
that the data on sit-ups is non-normal whereas in the Figure 5.9(b) the data fall along the line
indicating normality of the data on height.

(i) (ii)
5.9(a) 5.9(b)
Figure 5.9 Normal Q-Q Plot for the data on sit-ups and height

Remark: The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test along with the Normal Q-Q plot can be
computed by any standard statistical software. However, in SPSS it can be obtained by using the following
command in the data file.
 Analyze Descriptive statistics Explore

Design of Experiments and Analysis of Variance

Prof.J.P.Verma
MSc(Stat), PhD, MA(Psycho), MCA
Director, Centre for Advanced Studies
Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education Gwalior
Email: vermajp@sancharnet.in

The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical technique, used for analyzing research
designs in investigating different research questions. This technique focuses on analyzing the
causes of variation in the data. In analysis of variance the means of three or more groups are
compared by testing the significance of the variance among the group means. Significance of
the variance among group means indicates that the group means are different and have not
been drawn from the same population whereas if the variance is not significant, one may
conclude that the group means do not differ and have been drawn from the same population.

In this chapter procedure involved in one-way ANOVA, two way ANOVA with one
observation per cell and two way ANOVA with n observations per cell shall be discussed in
detail by means of solved examples to analyze two basic research designs namely completely
randomized design, randomized block design and one factorial experiment respectively.
Besides these designs a separate section has been devoted to the analysis of covariance.
Whatever design is used by the researcher in their experiment their data is analyzed by using
the technique of analysis of variance. It is therefore very important for the readers to
understand the basic concepts involved in it and the procedure used in testing different kinds
of hypotheses.

Understanding Analysis of Variance

Analysis of variance is a group of statistical techniques for analyzing the causes of variation
in the data set. The total variation in the data set is split into two components; variation due
to assignable causes and variation due to non-assignable causes. These variations are
compared by comparing the variances between the groups and within the groups. As per the
Fisher, the ratio obtained by dividing the “between group” variance by the “within group”
variance follows an F distribution with (r-1, n-r) degrees of freedom, where r is the number
of groups and n is the total number of scores. If F-ratio is significant, the variance among the
group means becomes significant and it is concluded that the group means differ significantly
otherwise not. Thus, the means of three or more groups are compared by using the analysis of
variance technique. This technique can also be used to compare the means of two groups and
in that case the results of analysis of variance and t test become identical. Thus, the analysis
of variance is an extension of t test or one may say that the t test is a specific case of the
analysis of variance.
The analysis of variance technique can be understood by the below mentioned example, but
before that let us see what the difference between variation and variance is. The variation
describes the spread of scores in the data set whereas variance is a measure of variation in the
scores. The variance is calculated by finding the variation of scores around its mean value. In
analysis of variance we deal with the sample data and therefore the sample variance is
computed to estimate the population variance. We use sample variance as an estimator in
estimating the population variance because it is an unbiased estimate of the population
variance. The sample variance is given by
1 2
S2 x x
n 1

The term x x 2 is known as sum of squares and n-1 is the degrees of freedom for the
variance. Thus

SS Variation
S2 MSS
df df

Where MSS denotes the mean sum of squares and is equivalent to the variance of the data. In
analysis of variance the terms SS and MSS are used very frequently which represents the
variation and variance of the scores.

In order to understand the concept of between group sum of squares and within group sum of
squares let us consider the data on shooting accuracy in basketball obtained on the college
athletes in three different height categories as shown in Table 8.1. The coach is interested to
know whether the shooting performance depends upon the height of the athletes. In order to
answer this research question he tests the null hypothesis that the shooting performance in all
the three height groups are same against the alternative hypothesis that at least one group
mean differs. Thus, the null hypothesis which is tested by using the analysis of variance is

H 0 : Short Medium Tall

Against the alternative hypothesis that at least one group mean differs

Table 8.1 Data on shooting accuracy

__________________________________________________________

Short Height Medium Height Tall Height

__________________________________________________________

3 5 8
4 2 5
2 6 7
6 5 6
5 7 9
___________________________________________________
Total 20 25 35

Mean 4 5 7 Grand mean= 5.33

__________________________________________________________
If you look into the Table 8.1, all the scores are not same. If I ask a simple question as to why
these scores differ, one may immediately say, possibly because they come from different
height groups. Thus, one of the reasons of variation of these scores may be the height (or
between groups), But even in each height groups (or within groups) scores also vary and
therefore this variation can be attributed to some unknown reasons. Thus, the total variation
can be due to two reasons: assignable causes and non-assignable causes. Assignable causes
are those which can be assigned by the researcher for variation such as height in this case and
non-assignable causes are those which cannot be assigned by the researcher (due to which
variation occurs within each group). There may be various reasons like skill, arm strength,
concentration, palm length, eye hand coordination etc due to which the performance of
shooting accuracy of the athletes in each group may differ. Since these causes are not known
to the researcher hence the variation due to non-assignable causes is also known as error
variation (or within group variation). Since total variation can be split into two components
i.e., between group variation and within group variations, it is our endeavour to find whether
the variation due to groups is significant or not. Kindly note that the variation between
groups is measured by computing the variance of group means (4, 5 and 7) around the grand
mean (5.33). On the other hand the variation within groups is obtained by adding the
variance within each of the three groups. For example the variance in the first group can be
obtained by finding the variance of all the five scores in the first group (3, 4, 2, 6 and 5)
around its mean 4. Similarly variance of all the groups can be obtained. These computations
have been shown in the solved Example 8.1.

As mentioned earlier that the variance between groups and within groups is compared by
using the F test hence if these two variances differ significantly it is concluded that the
variance between the group means is significantly higher than that of the variance within
groups and one may draw the conclusion that group means are not same. This is logical also
because if the group means in this example, i.e., 4, 5 and 7 differ significantly then obviously
one should draw the conclusion that all three group means are not same and that’s what the F
test in analysis of variance does.

Design of Experiment
Design of experiment can be defined as a blue print of organizing a research experiment for
testing the hypotheses in an efficient manner. It facilitates an experimenter to manipulate
one
or more independent variables, control the extraneous variables and reduce the error due to
non assignable causes. In an experimental design we see the effect of an independent variable
on some dependent variable. For instance in testing the effect of conditioning program on
cardio respiratory endurance, the conditioning program is an independent variable whereas
the cardio respiratory endurance is the dependent variable. An independent variable may
either be a treatment variable or a classificatory variable. A treatment variable is the one
which the experimenter manipulates in the experiment. A classificatory variable is some
characteristics of the subjects on the basis of which experimental subjects can be classified.
These characteristics are present in the subjects prior to the experiment and are not the result
of the experimenter’s manipulation.
If in an experiment the effect of three different intensities of conditioning program is to be
seen on the cardio respiratory endurance in male and female subjects then in this case the two
independent variables shall be the conditioning program and sex whereas the dependent
variable would be the cardio respiratory endurance. Here conditioning program is a treatment
variable because the experimenter can manipulate its intensities whereas the sex is a
classificatory variable because this characteristics was present among the subjects prior to
conducting the experiment.

Manipulating independent variable in the experiment depends upon the nature of the study.
Independent variables such as sex, height, weight, level of sports performance, type of sports
the subjects play or socio economic status are classificatory variables because these
conditions existed prior to the experiment. The researcher cannot manipulate these conditions
and therefore they study the phenomenon of interest under several conditions of the
classificatory variable. For example an experimenter may be interested to compare the
flexibility among the college level athletes in three different sports like Gymnastics, Judo and
Swimming. The interest of the researcher may be to see the effect of sport on flexibility. Here
the independent variable is sport which is a classificatory variable and is not being
manipulated by the experimenter whereas the phenomenon of interest to the researcher is
flexibility. On the other hand some of the independent variables can be manipulated by the
researcher. For example in comparing the effect of aerobic exercise on lean body weight, the
experimenter can manipulate the intensities of the aerobic program. He may take low,
medium and high intensity aerobic programs whose effects may be compared on lean body
weight. Similarly the effect of exercise duration on the agility can be investigated by the
researcher. In that case the researcher may manipulate the duration say 15 minute, 30 minute
or 45 minute of the exercise program.

In a researcher experiment each independent variable may have two or more levels. For
example in the above mentioned experiment, to see the effect of conditioning program on
cardio-respiratory endurance in male and female, the two independent variables had different
levels. The conditioning program had three levels (three different intensities) where as the
sex had two levels (male and female). It depends upon the nature of the study and the
resources available to the researcher as to how many levels of each independent variable can
be taken in the experiment.

The dependent variable in the experiment is also known as criterion variable or response
variable. This is the variable in which the experimenter is interested to know as to how it
behaves under different treatment conditions. In fact the dependent variable is the response to
the different levels of independent variables.

Three basic designs that are discussed in this chapter are completely randomized design,
randomized block design and factorial design. Whatever may be the experimental designs
they are analyzed by a group of techniques known as analysis of variance. The choice of the
design depends upon the nature of experimental material (subjects). The whole effort of an
experimenter in choosing the design is to reduce the error in the experiment while testing the
hypothesis. This is done by; maximizing the systematic variance through manipulating the
independent variable, control the extraneous variance by controlling the extraneous variables
either by randomization, matching or by including extraneous variable in the experiment, and
reduce the error variance by experimental or statistical procedures.
Completely Randomized Design
The completely randomized design is the simplest design used by the researcher in a situation
where the experimental subjects are homogeneous in nature in all respect. In this design the
treatments are randomly allocated to the subjects. The completely randomized design is used
when there is only one independent variable with three or more levels. Consider the earlier
mentioned experiment where the effect of aerobic exercise is to be seen on the muscular
endurance. The experimenter may choose three intensities of the aerobic exercise (low,
medium and high). These three treatments may be randomly assigned to the subjects. Here
the subjects need to be homogeneous in all respect. In this design it is not necessary to have
equal number of subjects in each group. The one way analysis of variance is used to analyze
this design. The procedure in this design can be easily understood by seeing the example 8.1.

Two-way Analysis of Variance (n observations per cell)

The two-way analysis of variance is an extension of one way ANOVA. In two-way ANOVA
model, effect of two factors on the dependent variable is studied simultaneously. Each factor
may have several levels. The two-way ANOVA is applied in two situations; firstly, where
there is one observation per cell and secondly, where there is more than one observation per
cell. In case of more than one observation per cell the number of observation in each cell
should be equal otherwise the analysis becomes very complicated. In a situation where the
number of observation per cell is more than one, using two-way ANOVA is more
advantageous instead of doing two separate one-way ANOVA’s because besides knowing
the effect of two factors separately one can also study the effect of interaction between the
two factors on the dependent variable. Further, in two-way ANOVA the error variance can be
reduced by introducing the second factor. In two-way ANOVA a researcher examines the
effects of two factors on the dependent variable where both treatments have nominal-level
measurement, such as effect of age and training duration on athlete’s performance, the effect
of different levels of the training program and the different duration on the swimming
performance, effect of region and socio economic status on the attitude towards sports.

There may be several instances where two-way ANOVA experiment can be planned. For
example, in studying the effect of three different intensities of aerobic workout on the weight
reduction, one may select another factor as nutrition because nutrition may play a role in
reducing the fat percentage. In framing this experiment as a two-way ANOVA one can
investigate three things; first, compare the effect of different aerobic workouts on fat
reduction irrespective of nutrition (main effect of Aerobic workout), secondly, compare the
effect of nutrition in reduction of the fat irrespective of the aerobic workout (main effect of
nutrition) and thirdly, test the significance of interaction between aerobic workout and
nutrition.

Advantages of two-way ANOVA

The two-way ANOVA model is more efficient over one way ANOVA because of the
following reasons:
 1. In two-way ANOVA, effect of two factors on the dependent variable can be studied
simultaneously unlike one-way ANOVA where only one factor is investigated.
2. Because total variability is split into two different factors and the interaction hence
the error variance is reduced in comparison to the one-way ANOVA.
3. In two-way ANOVA effect of interaction between the two variables can be
investigated simultaneously. This is not possible if instead of two-way ANOVA two
separate one-way ANOVAs are planned. However, number of observations in each
cell must be equal and more than one.
4. The two-way ANOVA also reduces the computation as it includes several one-way
ANOVA.

Terminologies used in Two-Way ANOVA

It is important to understand the meaning of different terminologies used in two-way

ANOVA. Following are the different terms used in the computation.

Factors

Factors are the independent variables whose effect has to be investigated on the dependent
variable. A factor may have different levels. In two-way ANOVA the effect of two factors
are studied on certain criterion variable. Each of the two factors may have two or more levels
within it, and the degree of freedom for each of the factor is one less than the number of
levels.

Treatment conditions

The number of treatment conditions in two-way ANOVA experiment is equal to the number
of combinations of the two factors. For example, if the factor A has 3 levels A1, A2 and A3
and the factor B has 2 levels B1, and B2, then there will be 3 × 2 = 6, different treatment
conditions namely A1B1, A1B2, A2B1, A2B2, A3B1 and A3B2.

Main effect

The main effect is the effect of one independent variable (or Factor A) on the dependent
variable across all the levels of the second independent variable(Factor B). The interaction is
ignored for this part. Just the rows or just the columns are used, not mixed. This is the part
which is similar to one-way analysis of variance. Each of the variances calculated to analyze
the main effects (Rows and Columns) are like between variances. The degrees of freedom for
the main effect can be obtained by subtracting 1 from its number of levels. For example if the
factor A has r levels and factor B has c levels then the degrees of freedom for the factor A
and B would be r-1 and c-1 respectively.

Simple Effect

The simple effect is the effect of one independent variable in each level of the other factor. It
is investigated by comparing the effect of all the levels of one factor in each of the levels of
the other factor. The simple effect becomes meaningful when the interaction between the two
factors is significant.
Interaction effect

The joint effect of two factors on the dependent variable is known as interaction. It can also
be defined as the effect that one factor has on the other factor. The degree of freedom for the
interaction is the product of degrees of freedom of both the factors. If the factors A and B
have levels r and c respectively then the degrees of freedom for the interaction would be (r-
1)×(c-1).

Randomized Block Design

The randomized block design is used when the experimental subjects are not homogeneous.
If three treatment conditions need to be compared then all the subjects under the study is
divided into blocks of size three in such a manner that each block is homogenous within
itself. In each block all the three treatment conditions are randomly assigned. The
experimenter needs to decide carefully the basis of making blocks. Usually blocking is done
on the basis of some variable which is supposed to have an impact on the criterion variable in
the experiment during treatment.

For instance in comparing the effect of three different types of circuit training programs on
the long jump performance one may decide to make blocks on the basis of height of the
athletes. It is so because height of an athlete may have an impact on the long jump
performance during treatment. If the height is not controlled by blocking, its effect would be
confounded in the performance of the long jump during the experiment and one cannot say
that the difference in the performance is only because of the circuit training program. The
purpose of blocking is to reduce the error variance. By reducing the error variance the
efficiency is increased in testing the hypothesis. Two-way analysis of variance with one
observation per cell is used to analyze this design. The detail computation can be understood
by looking to the solved Example 8.2.

Factorial Design
In factorial design the effect of two or more factors (treatments) on the criterion variable is
investigated simultaneously. In this design all the levels of one factor may be studied in each
level of the other factor. If A and B are the two factors where the factor A has 2 levels (A1,
A2) and factor B has 3 levels(B1, B2 and B3) then this design is known as 2× 3 factorial
design. Thus, in 2× 3 factorial design six treatments conditions (A1B1, A1B2, A1B3, A2B1,
A2B2, A2B3) need to be compared and therefore six random samples are selected. If
experimenter decides to have 10 subjects in each treatment conditions then 60(=10×2×3)
subjects are randomly selected from the population of interest. These samples are randomly
divided into 6 groups and then all the six treatments conditions are randomly allocated to
these six samples. In this design the main effect of both the factors A and B are investigated
along with the simple effect of each factor simultaneously.
In randomized block design only one factor is of interest to the experimenter whereas the
other factor (blocking variable) is used for reducing the within group variability. On the other
hand in factorial design the experimenter is interested in both the factors. Another important
feature of this design is that one can get an idea about the interaction effect between both the
treatments.