Flow Chart for Selecting Commonly Used Statistical Tests

Parametric Assumptions:
1. Independent, unbiased samples
2. Data normally distributed
3. Equal variances

Type of data?
Continuous

Discrete, categorical

Chi-square tests
one and two sample

Type of question
Differences

Relationships
Do you have a true
independent variable?
Yes

Differences between
what?

No

Regression
Analyses

Means

Tests for
Equal Variances
Fmax test,
Brown and Smythes test,
Bartletts tests

Correlation Analysis

Nonparametric

Parametric

How many treatment

groups?

Spearmans Rank
Correlation

Pearsons r

Two groups

Parametric assumptions
satisfied?

If significant, do a
post hoc test, e.g.
Tukeys or Bonferronis

Parametric asssumptions
satisfied?

No
Data transform worked?

Yes
Parametric
Students unpaired t-test,
Paired t-test

More than two

groups

Yes

No

No

Data transform worked?

Nonparametric

Yes

Mann-Whitney U or
Wilcoxon Rank sums test

Parametric

ANOVA

Yes

No

Nonparametric
Kruskal-Wallis Test

If significant, do a
Dunns Test