Note Two Way ANOVA
Note Two Way ANOVA
Note Two Way ANOVA
Your dependent variable – here, “weight”, should be continuous – that is, measured on a
scale which can be subdivided using increments (i.e. grams, milligrams)
Your two independent variables – here, “month” and “gender”, should be in categorical,
independent groups.
Sample independence – that each sample has been drawn independently of the other
samples
Variance Equality – That the variance of data in the different groups should be the same
Normality – That each sample is taken from a normally distributed population
1. A one-way ANOVA is primarily designed to enable the equality testing between three or
more means. A two-way ANOVA is designed to assess the interrelationship of two independent
variables on a dependent variable.
2. A one-way ANOVA only involves one factor or independent variable, whereas there are two
independent variables in a two-way ANOVA.
3. In a one-way ANOVA, the one factor or independent variable analyzed has three or more
categorical groups. A two-way ANOVA instead compares multiple groups of two factors.
4. One-way ANOVA need to satisfy only two principles of design of experiments, i.e. replication
and randomization. As opposed to Two-way ANOVA, which meets all three principles of design of
experiments which are replication, randomization, and local control.
Definition A test that allows one to make A test that allows one to make comparisons
comparisons between the means of between the means of three or more groups of
three or more groups of data. data, where two independent variables are
considered.
What is Being The means of three or more groups The effect of multiple groups of two independent
Compared? of an independent variable on a variables on a dependent variable and on each
dependent variable. other.
Introduction
The two-way ANOVA compares the mean differences between groups that have been
split on two independent variables (called factors). The primary purpose of a two-way
ANOVA is to understand if there is an interaction between the two independent
variables on the dependent variable. For example, you could use a two-way ANOVA
to understand whether there is an interaction between gender and educational level on
test anxiety amongst university students, where gender (males/females) and education
level (undergraduate/postgraduate) are your independent variables, and test anxiety is
your dependent variable. Alternately, you may want to determine whether there is an
interaction between physical activity level and gender on blood cholesterol
concentration in children, where physical activity (low/moderate/high) and gender
(male/female) are your independent variables, and cholesterol concentration is your
dependent variable.
The interaction term in a two-way ANOVA informs you whether the effect of one of
your independent variables on the dependent variable is the same for all values of
your other independent variable (and vice versa). For example, is the effect of gender
(male/female) on test anxiety influenced by educational level
(undergraduate/postgraduate)? Additionally, if a statistically significant interaction is
found, you need to determine whether there are any "simple main effects", and if there
are, what these effects are (we discuss this later in our guide).
Note: If you have three independent variables rather than two, you need a three-way
ANOVA. Alternatively, if you have a continuous covariate, you need a two-way
ANCOVA.
In this "quick start" guide, we show you how to carry out a two-way ANOVA using
SPSS Statistics, as well as interpret and report the results from this test. However,
before we introduce you to this procedure, you need to understand the different
assumptions that your data must meet in order for a two-way ANOVA to give you a
valid result. We discuss these assumptions next.
SPSS Statisticstop ^
Assumptions
When you choose to analyse your data using a two-way ANOVA, part of the process
involves checking to make sure that the data you want to analyse can actually be
analysed using a two-way ANOVA. You need to do this because it is only appropriate
to use a two-way ANOVA if your data "passes" six assumptions that are required for a
two-way ANOVA to give you a valid result. In practice, checking for these six
assumptions means that you have a few more procedures to run through in SPSS
Statistics when performing your analysis, as well as spend a little bit more time
thinking about your data, but it is not a difficult task.
Before we introduce you to these six assumptions, do not be surprised if, when
analysing your own data using SPSS Statistics, one or more of these assumptions is
violated (i.e., is not met). This is not uncommon when working with real-world data
rather than textbook examples, which often only show you how to carry out a two-
way ANOVA when everything goes well! However, don’t worry. Even when your
data fails certain assumptions, there is often a solution to overcome this. First, let’s
take a look at these six assumptions:
You can check assumptions #4, #5 and #6 using SPSS Statistics. Before doing this,
you should make sure that your data meets assumptions #1, #2 and #3, although you
don’t need SPSS Statistics to do this. Just remember that if you do not run the
statistical tests on these assumptions correctly, the results you get when running a
two-way ANOVA might not be valid. This is why we dedicate a number of sections
of our enhanced two-way ANOVA guide to help you get this right. You can find out
about our enhanced content as a whole on our Features: Overview page, or more
specifically, learn how we help with testing assumptions on
our Features: Assumptions page.
Step
boxes or by using the button. If you are using older versions of SPSS Statistics you
will need to use the latter method
4. Click on the button. You will be presented with the Univariate: Profile
Plots dialogue box
5. Transfer the independent variable, Edu_Level , from the Factors: box into the Horizontal
Axis: box, and transfer the other independent variable, Gender , into the Separate
Lines: box.
6. Click on the button. You will see that "Edu_Level*Gender" has been added to
the Plots: box,
7. Click on the button. This will return you to the Univariate dialogue box.
8. Click on the button. You will be presented with the Univariate: Post Hoc
Multiple Comparisons for Observed Means dialogue box
9. Transfer Edu_Level from the Factor(s): box to the Post Hoc Tests for: box. This will
make the –Equal Variances Assumed– area become active (lose the "grey sheen") and
present you with some choices for which post hoc test to use. For this example, we are
going to select Tukey, which is a good, all-round post hoc test.
10. Click on the button to return to the Univariate dialogue box.
11. Click on the button. This will present you with the Univariate:
Options dialogue box,
12. Transfer Gender, Edu_Level and Gender*Edu_Level from the Factor(s) and Factor
Interactions: box into the Display Means for: box. In the –Display– area, tick
the Descriptive Statistics option.
13. Click on the button to return to the Univariate dialogue box.
14. Click on the button to generate the output.