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Wilcoxon Test for Study Technique Impact

The document outlines a scenario to test a new study technique's effectiveness on test scores using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. It details the calculation of differences, ranking of absolute differences, assignment of signs to ranks, and determination of the test statistic. The conclusion indicates a statistically significant difference in test scores before and after the technique was applied.

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Its me Lyn
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5 views3 pages

Wilcoxon Test for Study Technique Impact

The document outlines a scenario to test a new study technique's effectiveness on test scores using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. It details the calculation of differences, ranking of absolute differences, assignment of signs to ranks, and determination of the test statistic. The conclusion indicates a statistically significant difference in test scores before and after the technique was applied.

Uploaded by

Its me Lyn
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Example Scenario

Suppose we want to test whether a new study technique improves test


scores. We have test scores of 5 students before and after using the
technique.

Student Before (X) After (Y)

1 78 85
2 82 88
3 75 80
4 90 92
5 88 85

Step 1: Calculate Differences

Calculate the difference (D_i = X_i - Y_i) for each student.

Student Before (X) After (Y) Difference (D = X - Y)

1 78 85 -7
2 82 88 -6
3 75 80 -5
4 90 92 -2
5 88 85 3

Step 2: Rank the Absolute Differences

Now, we take the absolute values of the differences and rank them.

Difference
Student Absolute Difference ( D ) Rank
(D)
1 -7 7 5
2 -6 6 4
3 -5 5 3
4 -2 2 2
5 3 3 1
Step 3: Assign Signs to Ranks

Now, we assign the sign of the original difference to the ranks.

Student Difference (D) Rank Signed Rank

1 -7 5 -5

2 -6 4 -4

3 -5 3 -3

4 -2 2 -2

5 3 1 1

Step 4: Calculate the Test Statistic

Now, we calculate the sum of the positive ranks and the sum of the negative
ranks.

 Sum of positive ranks ((W^+)): (1) (from Student 5)

 Sum of negative ranks ((W^-)): (-5 - 4 - 3 - 2 = -14)

The test statistic (W) is the smaller of the absolute values of these sums: [W
= \min (1, 14) = 1]

Step 5: Determine the Critical Value or p-value

For a sample size of 5 (number of non-zero differences), we can refer to a


Wilcoxon signed-rank table or use statistical software to find the critical value
for (W) at a significance level (e.g., (\alpha = 0.05)).

For (n = 5), the critical value for a two-tailed test is typically around 0 or 1.

Step 6: Make a Decision

 If (W) is less than or equal to the critical value, we reject the null
hypothesis.

 In this case, (W = 1) is equal to the critical value, so we reject the null


hypothesis.

Step 7: Report on the Results


We conclude that there is a statistically significant difference in test scores
before and after using the new study technique.

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