4/16/2019 Mann-Whitney U Test - Medina Valley Centre

Mann-Whitney U Test
This Mann-Whitney U Test is used to nd out if there is a signi cant di erence between
the medians of two sets of data.

There should be between 5 and 20 readings or values (e.g. quadrats or sweeps) in

each data set. The data does not need to be normally distributed (i.e. it is a non-
parametric test).

Before carrying out the statistical test, a null hypothesis needs to be formulated. The null
hypothesis is di erent to the main study hypothesis and always states there will be no
signi cant di erence between the two data sets.

Example

Two ponds were surveyed to see if there was a di erence in the number of invertebrate
species found in each pond. Pond A was shaded by trees, Pond B was unshaded.

Null hypothesis: There is no signi cant di erence in the number of species found in
the two ponds.

Results (number of species per sweep, n is the number of

sweeps)

Pond A 6 2 11 5 7 3 6 5 6 4 nA = 10
Pond B 11 5 8 4 13 6 15 7 12 10 nB = 10
1. First put the data in order as one set of numbers (distinguish between the two data
sets – Pond A is in normal type, Pond B is in blue) and ‘rank’ them all between 1 and, in
this data set, 20.

Data 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 10 11 11 12 13 15
Rank 1 2 3.5 3.5 6 6 6 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 12.5 12.5 14 15 16.5 16.5 18 19 20
Note: If there is more than one reading with the same value they ‘share a rank’. For
example, the value 4 would have the ranks 3 and 4 but because there are two readings
with that value they have the same rank which is 3.5 (3+4/2). There are 3 readings with
the value 5 so the rank given to each of them is 6 (5+6+7)/3 = 6.

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4/16/2019 Mann-Whitney U Test - Medina Valley Centre

2. Once you have ranked the data, you need to add up the ranks for each data set
ΣrA = Pond A = 1 + 2 + 3.5 + 6 + 6+ 9.5 + 9.5 + 9.5 + 12.5 + 16.5 = 76
ΣrB = Pond B = 3.5 + 6 + 9.5 + 12.5 + 14 + 15 + 16.5 + 18 + 19 + 20 = 134

3. You can then calculate the value of U for each pond

nA = number of samples from Pond A, nB = number of samples from Pond B

UA = nAnB + (nA(nA+1))/2 – ∑rA = 100 + 55 – 76 = 79

UB = nAnB + (nB(nB+1))/2 – ∑rB = 100 + 55 – 134 = 21

4. Take the smallest value of U (21 is smaller than 79). This is your calculated test
statistic.

5. Look up the critical value of U from the Mann-Whitney U Test statistical table

6. If the calculated value is LESS THAN or EQUAL TO the critical value there is only a 5%
probability that the null hypothesis is true and can, therefore, be rejected. Therefore,
there is a statistically signi cant di erence between the two data sets.

In our example, the critical value is 23.

Our calculated value of 21 is LESS THAN the critical value and so, we reject the null
hypothesis.

Your statistics results should go in the results section of your report.

e.g. “The Mann-Whitney U test was used to see if there was a statistically signi cant
di erence in the number of species in the two ponds because the measurements were
of the ordinal level. The null hypothesis stated that there was no signi cant di erence in
the number of invertebrate species in the two ponds and was rejected because the
calculated U value was less than the critical U value at the 5% signi cance level (n=10,
Ucalc = 21, Ucrit = 23).”

Now consider the biological signi cance of the result… and link it back to the other data
you have collected.

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