Mann-Whitney U Test

Understanding the Basics of Non-Parametric Statistical Testing

Scope of Presentation
• Background
• Assumptions
• Null and Alternative Hypotheses
• Test Procedure
• Calculating the Mann-Whitney U Statistic
• P-value Determination
• Interpreting the Results
• Practical Example
• Conclusion
Background
The Mann-Whitney U test, also known as rank-sum test, was
developed by Frank Wilcoxon in 1945 and is named after Henry Mann
and Wilcoxon. It is commonly used to compare two groups when the
data are:
- ordinal;
- interval; or
- ratio.

The test ranks all the data points from both groups and then
evaluates whether the distribution of ranks differs significantly between
the groups.
Assumptions
 Independent Samples: The observations in each group
must be independent of each other.
 The data should be measured on at least an ordinal
scale.
 The data should be approximately symmetric.
Null and Alternative Hypotheses
 Null Hypothesis (HN): There is no significant
difference between the two groups.
 Alternative Hypothesis (HA): There is a significant

difference between the two groups.

Test Procedure
 Combine the data from both groups.
 Rank all the data points in ascending order, ignoring
group membership.
 Calculate the Mann-Whitney U statistic.
 Determine the p-value.
Calculating the Mann-Whitney U
Statistic
, where:
is the U-value for the first group;
and are the sample sizes of the two groups; and
is the sum of the ranks in the first group.

, where:
is the U-value for the second group;
and are the sample sizes of the two groups; and
is the sum of the ranks in the second group.

(, )
P-Value Determination
 The p-value indicates the probability of obtaining the
observed U statistic (or a more extreme value) if the
null hypothesis is true.
 You can solve manually to find the p-value.
 Or, you can use statistical software or tables.
P-Value Determination
P-Value
Determination
P-Value
Determination
Interpreting the Results
 If the p-value is less than your chosen significance level
(commonly 0.05), you can reject the null hypothesis.
 If the p-value is greater than the significance level, you fail to
reject the null hypothesis, indicating no significant difference
between the two groups.
 Practical Example

Examining Salary Differences

Scenario: Suppose we want to compare the salaries of
employees from two different departments (Department A
and Department B) in a company. The salary data for both
departments is collected, and we want to determine if there is
a significant difference in salaries between the two
departments.
 Data:

Salaries Salaries
$ 3500 $ 3000
$ 3800 $ 3200
Dept A Dept B
$ 4000 $ 3600
$ 4200 $ 3900
$ 4500 $ 4400
Conclusion
The Mann-Whitney U test is a valuable non-
parametric test for comparing two independent groups. It
provides a way to assess differences when the
assumptions of parametric tests are not met. When using
this test, it's important to understand the assumptions,
calculate the U statistic, and interpret the results correctly
to draw meaningful conclusions about your data.
END