A hypothetical experiment where an agricultural researcher is testing the effect of three different

types of fertilizers on the yield of a particular crop. The researcher applies each fertilizer to five
different plots and records the yield (in kilograms) from each plot. The data is presented below:

Fertilizer Type Plot 1 Plot 2 Plot 3 Plot 4 Plot 5

A 20 22 19 21 20

B 25 24 26 25 24

C 23 22 24 23 22

The researcher wants to know if there is a significant difference in yield based on the type of
fertilizer used. This is a job for Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

Step 1: State the hypotheses and Determine your Significance Level. The null hypothesis
(H0) is that there is no difference in the mean yield for the three types of fertilizers (Equal
Means for the three groups or treatments). The alternative hypothesis (Ha) is that there is a
difference in the mean yield for at least one pair of fertilizers (Not equal means for the three
groups or treatments). We will be using a significance level of 0.05 in this sample problem.

Now, let’s calculate the ANOVA for the given data:

Fertilizer Type Plot 1 Plot 2 Plot 3 Plot 4 Plot 5

A 20 22 19 21 20

B 25 24 26 25 24

C 23 22 24 23 22
Step 2. Select Appropriate Test Statistic (F-Test)

The test statistic is the F statistic for ANOVA, F=MSB/MSE.

Step 3. Setup your Decision Rule

The appropriate critical value can be found in a table of probabilities for the F distribution. In
order to determine the critical value of F we need degrees of freedom, df1=k-1 and df2=N-k.
Given:
n=5 df 1 =k−1=2
N = 15 df 2 =N−k =12
k=3 df 3 =N−1=14

In this example, df1=2 and df2=12. Looking at the F-distribution table, the critical value is 3.89
and the decision rule is as follows: Reject H0 if F > 3.89.
Step 4: Compute the Test Statistics.

The means of the yields for fertilizers A, B, and C are 20.4, 24.8, and 22.8, respectively. The
overall mean (grand mean) of all yields is 22.67.

Fertilizer Type Plot 1 Plot 2 Plot 3 Plot 4 Plot 5 Group Mean Grand Mean
A 20 22 19 21 20 20.4
B 25 24 26 25 24 24.8 22.67
C 23 22 24 23 22 22.8

The Sum of Squares Between (SSB) represents the variation due to the interaction between the
groups. The Sum of Squares Within (SSW) represents the variation due to differences within
individual groups.
2
SSB=∑ nij ( X ij − X G )

2 2 2
SSB=5 ( 20.4−22.67 ) +5 ( 24.8−22.67 ) +5 ( 22.8−22.67 )

SSB=48.5335 ≈ 48.53

SSE requires computing the squared differences between each observation and its group mean.
We will compute SSE in parts.

A (X −20.4) ( X −20.4 )2 B (X −24.8) ( X −24.8 )2 C (X −22.8) ( X −22.8 )2

20 -0.4 0.16 25 0.2 0.04 23 0.2 0.04

22 1.6 2.56 24 -0.8 0.64 22 -0.8 0.64

19 -1.4 1.96 26 1.2 1.44 24 1.2 1.44

21 0.6 0.36 25 0.2 0.04 23 0.2 0.04

20 -0.4 0.16 24 -0.8 0.64 22 -0.8 0.64

Total 0 5.2 Total 0 2.8 Total 0 2.8

2
SSW =∑ ∑ ( X ij −X ij ) =5.2+2.8+ 2.8=10.8

The F statistic is the ratio of the Mean Square Between (MSB) to the Mean Square
Within (MSW).
MSB = SSB/df1 = 48.53/2 = 24.27

MSW = SSW/df2 = 10.8/12 = 0.9

F = MSB/MSW = 24.27/0.9 = 26.96

ANOVA Table of Values

Source Sum of Squares Mean Squares F-Value
Between 48.5335≈ 48.53 24.27 26.96
Within/Error 10.8 0.9
Total 59.33

Step 5: Statistical Decision.

We reject the H0 (Null Hypothesis) because 26.96 > 3.89. At a significance level of 0.05.

Step 6. Interpretation/ Conclusion.

Therefore, there is compelling statistical evidence to assert a significant difference in the effect
of the fertilizers used.