THE WILCOXON RANK-SUM

TEST OR WILCOXON TWO-

SAMPLE TEST
 n 1 (n 1 + 1 )
U1 = W1 − 2
n 2 (n 2 + 1 )
U2 = W2− 2

Where :
U1 = Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test
W1 = sum of ranks of group 1
n1 = sample size of group 1
U2 = Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test
W2 = sum of ranks of group 2
n2 = sample size of group 2

Example : Of the eighteen selected patients who reached an advanced stage of

leukemia, ten were treated with a new serum and eight were not. The
survival time, in years, was reckoned from the time the experiment was
conducted. Using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test at a = .05 to test
whether the serum is effective, consider the following data.

Treatment 2.9 3.1 5.3 4.2 4.5 3.9 2.0 3.7 4.1 4.0
No Treatment 1.9 .5 .9 2.2 3.1 2.0 1.7 2.5
Problem : Is the new serum effective in treating leukemia.

Hypotheses :

𝐻0 : The new serum is not effective.

𝐻1 : The new serum is effective.

Level of Significance

a = .05
df = 𝑛1 = 10 𝑛2 = 8
𝑈.05 = 17

Statistics :
U-test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test
Computation : Arrange the data of both groups from the lowest to
highest value and rank them. The sum of ranks with
treatment will be 𝑊1 likewise the sum of ranks
without treatment will be 𝑊2 .

With Treatment Rank No Treatment Rank

2.9 9 1.9 4
3.1 10.5 0.5 1
5.3 18 0.9 2
4.2 16 2.2 7
4.5 17 3.1 10.5
3.9 13 2.0 5.5
2.0 5.5 1.7 3
3.7 12 2.5 8
4.1 15 W 2 = 41
4.0 14
W 1 = 130
 n 2 (n 2 + 1 )
U2 = W2−
n 1 (n 1 + 1 )
U1 = W1 − 2
2

8 (8 + 1 )
= 41 −
10 (10 + 1 )
= 130 − 2
2

72
= 41 −
110
= 130 − 2
2

= 130 − 55 = 41 − 36

U 1 = 75 U2 = 5
Decision Rule : Select the smaller value from U 1 and U 2 . If the U
computed value is lesser than or equal to the
tabular value, reject H 0 .

Conclusion : Since the U 2 computed values of 5 is lesser than

the U tabular values of 17 at .05 level of significance
with N 1 = 10 and N 2 = 8 degrees of freedom, the null
hypothesis is rejected in favour of the research
hypothesis that the new serum is effective, implying
that patients treated with the new serum live longer
when compared to the patients who were not
treated with new serum.