COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

MASTERS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Second Semester 2019 - 2020

Chapter 4. Non-Parametric Test
According to LaMorte (2017), the nonparametric tests are sometimes called distribution-free testsbecause they
are based on fewer assumptions (e.g., they do not assume that the outcome is approximately normally distributed).
Parametric tests involve specific probability distributions (e.g., the normal distribution) and the tests involve estimation
of the key parameters of that distribution (e.g., the mean or difference in means) from the sample data.
In addition, the cost of fewer assumptions is that nonparametric tests are generally less powerful than their
parametric counterparts (i.e., when the alternative is true, they may be less likely to reject H 0). There are some
situations when it is clear that the outcome does not follow a normal distribution. These include situations:
 when the outcome is an ordinal variable or a rank,
 when there are definite outliers or
 when the outcome has clear limits of detection.

Nonparametric test and its Parametric counterpart

Wilcoxon Singed Rank

The Wilcoxon signed-rank test is the nonparametric test equivalent to the dependent t-test. As the Wilcoxon
signed-rank test does not assume normality in the data, it can be used when this assumption has been violated and the
use of the dependent t-test is inappropriate. It is used to compare two sets of scores that come from the same
participants (Leard Statistics)

Example:
The table below shows the hours of relief provided by two analgesic drugs in 12 patientssuffering from arthritis.
Is there any evidence that one drug provides longer relief thanthe other?
Patients Drug 1 Drug 2
1 2.0 3.5
2 3.6 5.7
3 2.6 2.9
4 2.6 2.4
1. Click Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > 2 Related Samples... on the
5 7.3 9.9
6 3.4 3.3 top menu, as shown below:
7 14.9 16.7
8 6.6 6.0
9 2.3 3.8
10 2.0 4.0
11 6.8 9.1
12 8.5 20.9

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2. You will be presented with the Two-Related-Samples Tests dialogue box, as shown below:

3. Transfer the variables you are interested in analyzing into the Test Pairs: box.f you want to generate descriptive or
quartiles for your variables, select them by clicking on the Options button and ticking the Descriptive and Quartiles
checkboxes in the –Statistics– area. Then click Continue and click Ok

4. Results

The Descriptive Statistics table is where SPSS Statistics has generated descriptive and quartile statistics for your
variables if you selected these options. If you did not select these options, this table will not appear in your results. You
can use the results from this table to describe the Pain Score scores before and after the acupuncture treatment. As you
have used a nonparametric test it is most likely that you should use the quartiles information to describe both your
groups.

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 The Ranks table provides some interesting data on the comparison of Drug 1 and Drug 2 relief score. We can see
from the table's legend that 3 participants had low relief after switching to other drugs. However, 9 participants had a
higher relief after treatment switching to other drugs.

By examining the final Test Statistics table, we can discover whether these changes, changing drug 1 to drug 2,
led overall to a statistically significant difference in relief Scores. We are looking for the "Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)" value,
which in this case is 0.012. This is the p-value for the test. We report the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test using the Z
statistic.There was significant difference between drug 1 and drug to [Z = -2.511, p = 0.012] at 0.05 level of
significance.

Activity 1

A firm wants to study the effect of music on the productivity of employees. One department of a certain factory
is selected at random to receive piped-in music for 30 days. There are 10 employees in the department. The following
table shows the average daily output for 30 days before the introduction of music and the average daily output for the
30 days during which music is piped into the department. Is there significant difference in the productivity of the
employees?

Employee 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Before music 90 80 92 85 81 85 72 85 70 88
During music 99 85 98 83 88 99 80 91 80 94

Mann-Whitney U-test
The Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare differences between two independent groups when the
dependent variable is either ordinal or continuous, but not normally distributed. For example, you could use the Mann-
Whitney U test to understand whether attitudes towards pay discrimination, where attitudes are measured on an
ordinal scale, differ based on gender (i.e., your dependent variable would be "attitudes towards pay discrimination" and
your independent variable would be "gender", which has two groups: "male" and "female") (Leard Statistics).
Alternately, you could use the Mann-Whitney U test to understand whether salaries, measured on a continuous
scale, differed based on educational level (i.e., your dependent variable would be "salary" and your independent
variable would be "educational level", which has two groups: "high school" and "university"). The Mann-Whitney U test
is often considered the nonparametric alternative to the independent t-test although this is not always the case.

Example: A researcher gives a random sample of 15 college men and an independent random sample of 20 college
women a test to measure their knowledge of ecological issues. The table of scores shows, if there is significant
difference in the level of the participants knowledge on ecological issues when grouped according to sex?

Men’s Scores Women’s Scores

18.50 17.00 12.40 25.00 19.10 15.00 18.00
14.00 16.00 15.20 23.00 18.75 21.00 18.25
20.00 12.50 12.50 16.20 21.10 18.50 24.00
19.00 12.00 19.25 19.75 17.50 17.25 18.30
19.50 10.00 11.00 20.00 17.75 16.30 19.20

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1. Click Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Legacy Dialogs > 2 Independent Samples... on the top menu, and You will be
presented with the Two-Independent-Samples Tests dialogue box, as shown below:

2. Make sure that the Mann-Whitney U checkbox is ticked in the –Test Type– area and the Grouping Variable: box is
highlighted in yellow (as seen above). Click on the Define groups button. The button will not be clickable if you have not
highlighted the Grouping Variable. Then click continue and click OK.

3. Results

The Ranks table is the first table that provides information regarding the output of the actual Mann-Whitney U
test. It shows mean rank and sum of ranks for the two groups tested. Results shows that women had the highest
knowledge on ecological issues.
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Test Statistics Table
This table shows us the actual significance value of the test. Specifically, the Test Statistics table provides the
test statistic, U statistic, as well as the asymptotic significance (2-tailed) p-value. From this data, it can be concluded that
level of knowledge of women was statistically significantly higher than the men group. Therefore, there was significant
difference in the level of the participants knowledge on ecological issues when grouped according to sex(U = 66, p =
0.004) at 0.05 level of significance.

Activity 2
A firm wishes to compare two methods of communicating information about a new product. Two groups of
subjects are chosen to take part in the experiment. Subjects in the first group learn about the new product by Method A.
Subjects in the second group learn about it by Method B. At the end of the experiment each subject is given a test to
measure knowledge of the new product. The results are shown in the following table. Is there significant difference in
the knowledge of the new product when the subjects are grouped according to methods?

Method A 50 59 60 71 80 81 80 78 72 77 73
Method B 52 54 58 78 65 69 61 60 72 60 59

Kruskal-Wallis H-test
The Kruskal‐Wallis (Kruskal & Wallis, 1952) is a nonparametric statistical test that assesses the differences
among three or more independently sampled groups on a single, non‐normally distributed continuous variable. Non‐
normally distributed data (e.g., ordinal or rank data) are suitable for the Kruskal‐Wallis test.
In contrast, the one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which is a parametric test, may be used for a normally
distributed continuous variable. The Kruskal‐Wallis test is an extension of the two‐group Mann‐Whitney U (Wilcoxon
rank) test. Thus, the Kruskal‐Wallis is a more generalized form of the Mann‐Whitney U test and is the nonparametric
version of the one‐way ANOVA.

Example:

The Department of Agriculture which to know whether they can conclude that three types of fertilizer have
different effects on the mean yield in bushels per acre of a certain grain. Each of the three types of fertilizer is applied to
four one-acre plots of ground. These plots are as alike with respect to relevant variables as possible. The plots are all
treated alike during the growing season. The table (next page) shows the yields of the 30 plots. Is there significant
difference in the mean yield of plots when grouped according to types of fertilizers?
Fertilizer A Fertilizer B Fertilizer C
45 42 53
40 44 56
41 43 54
46 47 55
45 45 53
50 47 54
47 48 56
41 50 55
43 51 52
44 49 53

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1.Enter the time values into one variable and the corresponding Fertilizer (1 Fertilizer A, 2 for Fertilizer B, 3 for Fertilizer
C) into another variable (see figure, below). Be sure to code your variables appropriately.

2. Select Analyze →Nonparametric Tests → K Independent Samples... (see upper-left figure, below).Select “Test
Score” as the test variable, select “Teaching Method” as the grouping factor, and select “Kruskal-Wallis H” as
the test type (see upper-right figure, below). Click “Define Range...” and enter the minimum value (1) as well as the
maximum value (3)(see lower-left figure, below). Click “Continue” to close the range definitions and then click“OK”(see
lower-right figure, below).

3. Results

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 The mean rank (i.e., the "Mean Rank" column in the Ranks table) of the Mean for each fertilizer group can be
used to compare the effect of the different fertilizer. Whether these fertilizer different mean yields can be assessed
using the Test Statistics table which presents the result of the Kruskal-Wallis H test. That is, the chi-squared statistic (the
"Chi-Square" row), the degrees of freedom (the "df" row) of the test and the statistical significance of the test (the
"Asymp. Sig." row).

A Kruskal-Wallis H test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in

mean yields between the different fertilizers, [χ 2(2) = 20.635, p = 0.000], with a mean rank
yields of 8.35 for fertilizer A, 12.65 for fertilizer B and 25.50 for fertilizer C.

There was significant difference in the mean yield of plots when grouped according to
types of fertilizers[χ2(2) = 20.635, p = 0.000] at 0.05 level of significance.

Activity 3
Incoming trainees in a large company are interviewed by 3 different interviewers with regard to their
management potential. Each interviewer gives the trainee a score from 0 to 100. The Personnel Manager wishes to
know if the 3 interviewers give consistent results. Seven (7) trainees are graded by the 3 interviewers with the following
results:
Interviewer
Trainee 1 2 3
A 71 94 70
B 84 68 71
C 60 72 54
D 78 66 57
E 65 85 78
F 53 47 45
G 72 75 53

Is there significant differece on the interviers scores?

References:

Kruskal & Wallis, (1952), Kruskal-Wallis H-test,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0491, Retrieved: May 9, 2020, Saturday
LaMorte, W (2017), When to Use a Nonparametric Test, http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-
Modules/BS/BS704_Nonparametric/BS704_Nonparametric2.html, Retrieved: May 9, 2020, Saturday

Leard Statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/mann-whitney-u-test-using-spss-

statistics.php, Retrieved May 9, 2020, Saturday.

Leard Statistics, Wilconxon Singed Rank, https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/wilcoxon-signed-rank-test-using-spss-

statistics.php, Retrieved May 9, 2020, Saturday.