Friedman Test

Introduction
The Friedman test, also known as Friedman’s ANOVA, is the non-parametric alternative to the
one-way repeated measures ANOVA test and is used to determine whether there are any statistically
significant differences between the distributions of three or more related groups. The groups are related as
they contain the same cases (e.g., participants) in each group and each group represents a repeated
measurement on the same dependent variable. This test is mostly used if the OR the dependent variable is
measured on an ordinal scale.
The following characterized Friedman test:
o There is one dependent variable that is measured at the continuous (when the assumption of
normality is markedly violated) OR measured at the ordinal level (no assumptions on the data).
o There is one independent variable that consists of three or more categorical, related groups or
matched cases.
A Friedman test is most often used for four types of study design: (a) to determine if there are
differences between three or more time points; (b) to determine if there are differences between conditions;
(c) to determine if there are differences in change scores; and (d) to determine if there are differences
between measurements.

Example
A psychologist was interested in the effects of television programs on domestic life. She
hypothesized that through ‘learning by watching’, certain programs might actually encourage people to
behave like the characters within them. This in turn could affect the viewer’s own relationships (depending
on whether the program depicted harmonious or dysfunctional relationships). She took episodes of three TV
shows and showed them to 54 couples, after which the couple were left alone in the room for an hour. The
experimenter measured the number of times the couple argued. Each couple viewed all three of the TV
programs at different points in time (a week apart) and the order in which the programs were viewed was
counterbalanced over couples. The TV programs selected were EastEnders (which typically portrays the
lives of extremely miserable, argumentative, London folk who like nothing more than to beat each other up,
lie to each other, sleep with each other’s wives and generally show no evidence of any consideration to their
fellow humans), Friends (which portrays a group of unrealistically considerate and nice people who love
each other oh so very much), and a National Geographic program about whales (this was a control).

What test is appropriate? (based on research study design)

Does the type of TV program watched by couple influence the frequency of argument between
them? To determine the effects of television programs on the relationship of couples, the number of times
they argued after watching each of the three TV programs have to be compared. Clearly, there is only one
continuous dependent variable which is the number of times each couple argued, and only one independent
variable which is the TV program with three categories - EastEnders, Friends, and National Geographic
program about whales. Each couple have to watch all the three TV programs. Thus, based on research study
design, one-way repeated measures ANOVA test is appropriate for the case. However, we still have to
check whether the assumptions for this test about the data are met. (It turns out that not all requirements are
satisfied, check page 6. This implies that we should employ the nonparametric test equivalent of one-way
repeated measures ANOVA which is the Friedman test.)

Hypotheses
H0: There is no difference in the number of times the couples argued who watched the TV
programs.
H1: There is a difference in the number of times the couples argued who watched the TV programs.

Data Set
Use the data set Friedman Test. Notice that this data set has 54 records, which represent the 54
couples in the study. In this data set, the data in columns 1, 2 and 3, represent the number of times the
couples argued after watching the TV programs EastEnders, Friends, and National Geographic program on
whales, respectively. The data are arranged this way just for visual clarity; the order of the records has no
bearing on the statistical results.

Checking for DATA ASSUMPTIONS for One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA

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 Based on study design, the test appropriate for the case is one-way repeated measures ANOVA. So, we
have to check the other assumptions of this test. There are five assumptions of one-way repeated measures
ANOVA, the first two (based on the number and type of variables and level of data) are inherent in the study
design, while the last three (outliers, normality and sphericity) are dependent on the nature of data gathered.
Now, we check whether the assumptions about the data are satisfied.

Checking for Outliers and Normality

SPSS Procedure:
1. SPSS Syntax: Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Explore (a dialogue box appears)
2. Select all the three variables and transfer them to the Dependent List box, as shown in Figure 1.
3. Click then tick Outliers (see Figure 2).
4. Click on the   button.
5. Click then tick Histogram, tick Normality plots with tests (see Figure 3).
6. Click on the   button.
7. Click on the   button. This will generate the output.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 3

The boxplots generated show that there are outliers in the EastEnders data, the data entries #25
and 29 which are both equal to 15 as shown in Figure 4a (also highlighted in red box in Figure 4d).
Table 1 also shows that all the three sets of data are not normal ( p values are all less than 0.05). So, we
need to replace these data entries by 13, the next highest value in the EastEnders data (Figure 4d).

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 Figure 4a Figure 4b Figure 4c

Figure 4d Figure 4e

Table 1

Now that we have replaced the two entries by 13 (see Figure 4e), we repeat the SPSS procedure
on page 2. Figure 5 shows that the EastEnders data no longer have outliers. There are not any outliers
anymore.  However, Table 2 shows that the data sets are still not normal even though they are free
from outliers.

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 Figure 5 Figure 6

Table 2
So, next we try to transform the data and see if we can achieve normality. Since the data sets
appear to be negatively skewed, we will use “reflect and square root transformation”.

DATA TRANSFORMATION using Reflect and Square Root

 Transform > Compute Variable
 The largest scores in the three data sets are 13 for EastEnders, 11 for Friends and 13 for Nat Geo programs.
The reflect and square root transformation tells us to add 1 to each highest score. Thus, we will use 14, 12
and 14 in our transformation formulas. Type the name of the new variable in the Target Variable box, we
use eastenders_reflect_sqrt. Type SQRT(14- into the Numeric Expression box then use the arrow to
enter the EastEnders data (labelled as eastend variable) into the expression, enclose it with close
parenthesis ); we obtain the formula SQRT(14-eastend) to transform EastEnders data (see Figure 7).

Figure 7 Figure 8

 Click the   button.

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 You would notice that the column eastenders_reflect_sqrt will be added in the data set (see
Figure 8). The entries under this column are the transformed EastEnders data using reflect and square
root transformation.
 Repeat the same process to transform the Friends data and NatGeo data, one at a time (see Figure 9 and
Figure 10. The results are shown in Figure 11.

Figure 9 Figure 10

Figure 11

Now that we have transformed the data, we repeat the procedure on page 2 for the third time to
check whether the transformed data sets are normal. (Remember to select the transformed data while
you perform the process.)
Table 3 presents the normality tests of the three related groups, as part of the SPSS output in
exploring the transformed data sets. The Shapiro-Wilk test revealed that the transformed Friends data
follow a normal distribution as indicated by p=.054 , which is higher than 0.05 level of significance.
However, EastEnders data and NatGeo data are still not normal. Hence, the normality condition is not
met.  Since one of the assumptions is not met, we do not need to proceed further to check for
sphericity requirement. It follows that we cannot use the one-way repeated measures ANOVA to
analyze the data. Hence, we use its nonparametric test equivalent, the Friedman test.

Table 3
Friedman Test
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 Since we are using the Friedman test, which is a nonparametric test, there are no assumptions about the
data that we need to satisfy. So, we will analyze the original data set, the one with no modified data entries
and not transformed. Now, go on and close the data file without saving the changes you made earlier. Then,
re-open it again. To perform the Friedman test in SPSS Statistics, follow the procedure below.

SPSS Procedure
1. Click Analyze > Nonparametric Tests > Related Samples... on the main menu (You will be
presented with the Nonparametric Tests: Two or More Related Samples dialogue box, as shown
in Figure 12)
2. Click the tab.
3. Select all the related variables, Eastenders, Friends and National Geographic in the Fields box and
transfer them into the Test Fields: box using the arrow button, as shown in Figure 13.
4. Click the button to generate the output.

Figure 12 Figure 13

The generated SPSS output is shown in Table 4. We will interpret this later after we do the next
procedure.

Table 4

Unfortunately, the nonparametric method does not generate the median for each group, which is a
common way of expressing the central tendency of the groups when running a Friedman test. To correct
for this, you will generate the medians using the following procedure.

Generating Median Statistics

SPSS Procedure
1. Click Analyze > Compare Means > Means... on the main menu (You will be presented with the
Means dialogue box, as shown in Figure 14.
2. Select all the related variables, Eastenders, Friends and National Geographic and transfer them into
the Dependent List: box using the button, as shown in Figure 15.
3. Click the button and you will be presented with the Means: Options dialogue box, as
shown in Figure 16.
4. Transfer "Median" from the Statistics: box to the Cell Statistics: box and deselect "Mean",
"Number of Cases", and "Standard Deviation" from the Cell Statistics: box. You can do this by

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 highlighting the relevant statistic (by clicking on it) and then clicking the or button, as
appropriate. You will end up with the screen shown in Figure 17.
5. Click the button and you will be returned to the Means dialogue box.
6. Click the button to generate the output.

Figure 14 Figure 15

Figure 16 Figure 17
After completing the procedure, you would obtain in the SPSS output the Report shown in Table 5.

Table 5

After running the Friedman test procedure in the previous section, SPSS Statistics will have
generated a number of tables and graphs that contain all the information you need to report the results of
the Friedman test. This time, we explain how to interpret these results based on whether: (a) your
Friedman test was statistically significant; and (b) you ran pairwise comparisons. If your Friedman test is
not statistically significant ( p ¿ .05), you would not follow up this result with any post hoc tests, but just
report the result of the Friedman test. However, if your Friedman test is statistically significant ( p ≤ .05),
you can investigate further with post hoc tests to determine where exactly the differences between groups
lie.

Interpreting the Results

Table 4 shows that the test was statistically significant, p value is 0.023 ("Sig" column) which
means that we can reject the null hypothesis. ("Decision" column). However, to gain more information

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 about this test, and the post hoc test results, you need to double-click on the table in the SPSS output to
launch the Model Viewer window, as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18

If you look at the right-hand pane, entitled Related-Samples Friedman's Two-Way Analysis of
Variance by Ranks, you will see the result of the test in more detail. You can use the values in the table
to present the results of the Friedman test as shown on the last section of this material.
Now we know that the Friedman test was statistically significant, which means that there is at
least one difference between one of the groups. SPSS Statistics runs pairwise comparisons if the result
was statistically significant. Note that, if you did not get a statistically significant result, SPSS Statistics
will not generate any pairwise comparisons. You can view these follow-up tests by selecting "Pairwise
Comparisons" from the View: drop-down option in the Friedman test result, as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19

Clicking the "Pairwise Comparisons" will present the Pairwise Comparisons window, with graph
(orange denotes a statistically significant pairwise comparison) supported by a table (statistically
significant pairwise comparison also highlighted in orange), as shown in Figure 20.
It appears that the group Friends and Eastenders are statistically significant with p=.037 while
the other two pairs are not ( p>.05) (we use the “Adj. Sig” column, it is the adjusted significance levels
using a Bonferroni correction). This implies that number of times the couples argued after watching
Friends and Eastenders is significantly different.
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 The Report table in Table 5 contains the medians of the different levels of the independent
variable. Knowing these median values can help when it comes to reporting the results.

Figure 20

Reporting the Results

A Friedman test was run to determine if there were differences in the number of times
the 54 couples argued after watching the TV programs EastEnders, Friends, and National
Geographic. Pairwise comparisons were performed with a Bonferroni correction for multiple
comparisons. The frequency of argument by the couples was statistically significantly
different after watching the TV programs, χ 2(2) = 7.586, p = .023. Post hoc analysis revealed
statistically significant differences in the number of times the couples argued after watching
Friends (MRank = 1.81) and EastEnders (MRank = 2.29) ( p=.037 ).

Formula Calculations

where: 
  Ri = sum of ranks of group i
 k= number of related groups/ conditions/ levels of IV
 n= number of observations per group/ number of subjects 
df= (k-1)(n-1)

Reference link:
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 https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/friedman-test-using-spss-statistics.php

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