MANN-WHITNEY U TEST
the null hypothesis. A critical value represents a proba-
The Mann-Whitney U test, which is also known as the
Wilcoxon rank sum test, tests for differences between two
groups on a single, ordinal variable with no specific dis-
tribution (Mann & Whitney, 1947; Wilcoxon, 1945). In
contrast, the independent samples t-test, which is also a
test of two groups, requires the single variable to be mea-
sured at the interval or ratio level, rather than the ordinal
level, and to be normally distributed. We accordingly
refer to the Mann-Whitney U test as the nonparamet-
ric version of the parametric t-test. Both tests require two
independently sampled groups and assess whether two
groups differ on a single, continuous variable. The two
tests, however, differ on the assumed distribution. A non-
parametric test assumes no specific distribution, whereas
a parametric test assumes a specific distribution. Thus,
the Mann-Whitney U is conceptually similar to the t-test
for determining whether two sampled groups are from a
single population. When data do not meet the parametric
assumptions of the t-test, the Mann-Whitney U tends to
be more appropriate.
The Mann-Whitney U is intended to determine if two
groups (e.g., samples ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’) come from the same
population (p), which is a null hypothesis significance test
stipulating that both samples are subsets from the same
population (i.e., H0: (a, b) ⊆ p). To test the null hypothesis,
we first combine observations from two groups into a
single group and rank the scores from 1 to N, where N
is the total sample size (na + nb = N). As in all ranking
procedures, ties may be handled by either assigning a
mean value, the first value, a random value, the maximum
value, or the minimum value. The Mann-Whitney U test
handles any form of ranking. After ranking, the procedure
divides the rank scores by group and computes a sum score
for each group (Ta and Tb). Equation 1 shows how both the
summed ranked score groups (Ta and Tb) and the group
sample sizes combine to calculate the U statistic.
If na > nb : U = Ta − (na(na + 1))/2 (1)
If nb > na : U = Tb − (nb(nb + 1))/2
The U statistic has a discrete or uniform distribu-
tion that provides us with the ability to define a critical
The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, edited by Irving B. Weiner and W. Edward Craighead.
Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
value, assign a probability to that value, and then test
bility level—typically .05—that helps us rule out chance
differences. If the U statistic is greater than the critical
value, then we reject the null with the inference that both
samples do not come from the same population.
Consider a problem in which we compare rankings
between 10 Eastern and 10 Western U.S. colleges. We
want to know whether the two samples of twenty colleges
come from a single population distribution (Neast = 10,
Nwest = 10). The rankings are as follows: Eastern colleges
were ranked 55, 60, 63, 81, 91, 121, 123, 149, 182, and
201, and the Western colleges were ranked 3, 32, 46, 72,
97, 141, 184, 190, 230, and 234. A reranking of the colleges
results in the following new sample ranks among the 20
colleges: Eastern colleges are now ranked 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,
12, 14, 15, and 18, whereas the Western colleges are now
ranked 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20. Using Equation 1,
we find U = 47 (p = .85), and thus we conclude that the
rank means do not differ and that the two samples come
from the same population.
REFERENCES
Mann, H. B., & Whitney, D. R. (1947). On a test of whether one of
two random variables is stochastically larger than the other.
Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 18, 50–60.
Wilcoxon, F. (1945). Individual comparisons by ranking methods.
Biometrics Bulletin, 1, 80–83.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Cohen, B. H. (2008). Explaining psychological statistics (3rd ed.).
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gibbons, J. D. (1993). Nonparametric statistics: An introduction. New-
bury Park, CA: Sage.
Hollander, M., & Wolfe, D. A. (1999). Nonparametric statistical
methods (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
PATRICK E. MCKNIGHT
JULIUS NAJAB
George Mason University
See also: Kruskal-Wallis Test; Nonparametric Statistical Tests