Statistical Tests Overview
Why an(other) overview of statistical tests?
Choosing the correct statistical test is not an easy task. Dozen's of methods exist and it is initially hard to see how they differentiate. Decision trees often don't help to really understand under which circumstances a specific test can be used.
This overview aims at showing at one glance what data setup a specific test requires. The overview also gives you the appropriate Stata command, a website for further information on how the test works, how the results can be interpreted, and finally, references to more detailed articles in the literature.
How do I use the overview to find an appropriate test?
You need to figure out answers to most of the following questions and the overview will guide you to find the appropriate test.
- What is my goal of analysis?
- What is my research question?
- Do I have paired or unpaired data?
- Is the analysis uni-, bi- or multivariate?
- How many dependent variables (DV) do I have?
- How many independent variables (IV) do I have?
- What scale of measurement (type) is my DV?
- What scale of measurement is my IV?
- How many control variables (CV) do I have?
- What scale of measurement is my CV?
- Do the data meet the assumptions of parametric tests or do I have to use a nonparametric test?
Other overviews of statistical tests
- Blankenberger, S. & Vorberg, D. (1998), Die Auswahl statistischer Tests und Maße (German).
- British Medical Journal (2009), Study Design and Choosing a Statistical Test.
- CENGAGE Learning (2005), Choosing the Correct Statistical Test.
- Groner, M. & Kersten, B. (2004), Entscheidungsbaum statistischer Testverfahren (German).
- Holtum, S., Blizard, B. & Canterbury Christ Church University (2003), A Clinical Psychologist's Online Guide to Selecting a Statistical Test.
- McDonald, J.H. 2006, Choosing a Statistical Test, in Handbook of Biological Statistics, ed. J.H. McDonald, 2nd edn, Sparky House Publishing, Baltimore, Maryland, pp. 282-287.
- Motulsky, H. (1995), Intuitive Biostatistics: Choosing a Statistical Test.
- Schüle, W. (2001), Flußdiagramm zur Bestimmung eines adäquaten statistischen Prüfverfahrens im Bereich der parametrischen und nichtparametrischen Grundlagenstatistik in Nichtparametrische statistische Methoden, ed. S. Siegel, 5th edn, Klotz, Eschborn, pp. 309-320.
- Sheskin, D.J. (2004), Guidelines and Decision Tables for Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Procedure, in Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Procedures, ed. D.J. Sheskin, 3rd edn, Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton, pp. 113-117.
- Sheskin, D.J. (2004), Outline of Inferential Statistical Tests and Measures of Correlation/Association, in Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Procedures, ed. D.J. Sheskin, 3rd edn, Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton, pp. 107-111.
- Tabachnick, B.G. & Fidell, L.S. (2006), in Using Multivariate Statistics, eds. B.G. Tabachnick & L.S. Fidell, 5th edn, Pearson, Boston, Mass., pp. ??-??.
- UCLA Academic Technology Services (2000), Choosing the Correct Statistical Test in SAS, Stata and SPSS.
Literature on statistical tests
- Conover, W.J. (1999), Practical Nonparametric Statistics, 3rd ed., John Wiley, New York.
- Sheskin, D.J. (2004), Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Procedures, 3rd edn, Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton.
- Siegel, S. (1956), Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York.
- Siegel, S. & Castellan, N.J. (1988), Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Feedback
Please report any errors or suggestions to tobias.pfaff@uni-muenster.de. I would also like to add a column with R commands. If you have
suggestions here, please email me also.
Last update: September 29, 2009.
