CHI-SQUARE TEST

FOR ASSOCIATION/
INDEPENDENCE
Prepared by: ELVIRA C. TORITA
OBJECTIVES:

▰ Define chi-square test for

Independence
▰ Test two variables for independence
using chi-square

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DEFINITION:

The Chi-Square Test of Independence determines whether there is an association

between categorical variables.

It is a hypothesis test that answers the question—do the values of one 

categorical variable depend on the value of other categorical variables?

It is a nonparametric test.

Also known as Chi-Square Test for

Association 3
STEPS:

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 EXAMPLE:

A researcher wishes to determine whether there is a relationship between the gender of an individual
and the amount of alcohol consumed. A sample of 68 people is selected, and the following data are
obtained.

Contingency
table

 
At , can the researcher conclude that alcohol consumption is related to
gender?
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 A researcher wishes to
determine whether there is a
STEP 1: relationship between the
gender of an individual and
the amount of alcohol
▰ State the hypothesis and identify the claim. consumed. A sample of 68
people is selected, and the
following data are obtained.

H0: The amount of alcohol that a person consumes is independent of the

individual’s gender.

H1: The amount of alcohol that a person consumes is dependent on the

individual’s gender (claim).

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Contingency table:

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

Row 1 Row 1 sum

Row 1 Row 2 sum

Column 2 sum GRAND

Column 1 sum Column 3 sum
TOTAL
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 STEP 2:

 At , can the researcher conclude that alcohol consumption is related to gender?
▰ Find the critical value.
 Degree of Freedom (df)= ( rows – 1)(columns – 1)

critical value: 4.61

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 STEP 3:

▰ Compute the test value.

  𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑥 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑚
𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆=
𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
     

     

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 Observed value

Expected
value

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SUBSTITUTE AND
EVALUATE

 
2 ( 𝑂 − 𝐸 )2
𝜒 =∑
𝐸
2 2 2 2 2 2
  2= ( 10 − 9.13 ) + ( 9− 9.93 ) + ( 8 −7.94 ) + ( 13− 13.87 ) + ( 16 − 15.07 ) + ( 12 − 12.06 )
𝜒
9.13 9.93 7.94 13.87 15.07 12.06

¿  0.2827

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STEP 4:

▰ Make the decision.

Since 0.2827 is lesser than 4.61, then the
decision is NOT to reject the null hypothesis.
test value Critical value

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 STEP 5:

▰ Summarize the result.

There is not enough evidence to support the claim

that the amount of alcohol a person consumes is
dependent on the individual’s gender.

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LIMITATION OF CHI-SQUARE TEST

▰ The chi-square test does not give us much information about the
strength of the relationship or its substantive significance in the
population.

▰ The chi-square test is sensitive to sample size. The size of the

calculated chi-square is directly proportional to the size of the
sample, independent of the strength of the relationship between
the variables.

▰ The chi-square test is also sensitive to small expected

frequencies in one or more of the cells in the table. 14
REFERENCES:

▰ https://libguides.library.kent.edu/spss/chisquare

▰ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE3AIyY_cn8

▰ Bluman, Allan G. (2012) Elementary Statistics: A step by step

Approach, 8th edn., Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.:
McGraw-Hill.

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