CHOOSING

STATISTICAL
PROCEDURES FOR
RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Each statistical procedure has a set of

assumptions for its appropriate application.
In selecting among procedures, any
researcher must therefore consider a
number of factors such as the following:
General and Specific Purpose of Research
Type of Questions/Hypothesis
General Type of Statistic

Research questions can be divided into three

broad types:
DIFFERENCE

Is A different from B?
Is there a difference between A and B?
Are there differences among A, B and C?

ASSOCIATIONAL
Is A associated or related with B?
Is there a correlation between A ad B?
What is the relationship between A and B?

DESCRIPTIVE
What is the mean value of A?
What are the usual values in A?

GENERAL
PURPOSE

EXPLORE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

VARIABLES

DESCRIPTION
(ONLY)

SPECIFIC
PURPOSE

COMPARE
GROUPS

FIND STRENGTH SUMMARIZE DATA

OF
ASSOCIATIONS,
RELATE VARIABLE

TYPE OF
QUESTION/
HYPOTHESIS

GENERAL TYPE OF
STATISTIC

DIFFERENCE

ASSOCIATIONAL

DESCRIPTIVE

DIFFERENCE
INFERENTIAL
STATISTICS

ASSOCIATIONAL
INFERENTIAL
STATISTICS

DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS

LEVEL OF
MEASUREMEN
T

Nominal

DIFFERENCE
INFERENTIAL
STATISTICS
Chi-Square
z-test for
proportion

Phi Coefficient

(Median Test)

Contingency
Coefficient
(Cramers V)
Spearmans RankOrder Correlation

Ordinal

Interval/
Ratio

ASSOCIATIONAL
INFERENTIAL
STATISTICS

t-ratio
Analysis of
Variance

Pearsons
Correlation
Coefficient and

DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS

Frequency
Counts,
Percentage,
Mode

Median

Mean
Standard
Deviation

Difference research questions. For

these questions, we compare scores (on
the dependent variable) of two or more
different groups, each of which is
composed of individuals with one of the
values or levels on the independent
variable. This type of question attempts
to demonstrate that groups are not the
same on the dependent variable.

Associational research questions. For

these questions, we associate or relate two
or more variables. This approach usually
involves an attempt to see how two or
more variables co-vary (e.g., higher values
on one variable correspond to higher or
lower values on another variable for the
same persons) or how one or more
variables enables one to predict another
variable

Descriptive research questions.

These are not answered with inferential
statistics. They merely describe or
summarize data, without trying to
generalize to a larger population of
individuals

A variable is defined as a characteristic of the participants or

situation for a given study that has different values in that
study and must be able to vary or have different values.

Gender: Male or Female

Age: has a large number of values
Type of Treatment/Intervention

In quantitative research, variables are defined operationally

and are commonly divided into independent variables
(active or attribute), dependent variables, and extraneous
variables.

two types of independent

variables

ACTIVE

ATTRIBUTE

Active
independent
variables independent
Also
known as manipulated

variable.
An active independent variable is a
variable such as workshop, new
curriculum, or other intervention, at
least one level of which is given to a
group of participants, within in a
specified period of time during the study.

independent
Attribute
Also known
as measurevariables
independent

variable. A
variable that cannot be manipulated, yet is a
major focus of the study.
The values of the attribute independent variable
are pre-existing attribute of the persons or their
ongoing environment that are not systematically
changed during the study.
Examples are education, gender, age, ethnic
group, IQ and self-esteem. Studies with only
attribute independent variables are called nonexperimental studies.

The dependent variable is assumed to measure or

assess the effect of the independent variable.
It is thought of as the presumed outcome or criterion.
Dependent variables are often test scores, ratings on
questionnaires, readings from instruments or measures
of physical performance.
Like independent variables, dependent variables must
have at least two values; most dependent variables have
many values, varying from low to high so they are not
easy to diagram as the independent variable.

Dependent Variable

Extraneous variables (also known as nuisance or

covariates in some designs) that are not of interest in
a particular study but could influence the dependent
variable.
Environmental factors (e.g. temperature or
distractions), time of day and characteristics of the
experimenter, teacher or therapist are some possible
extraneous variables that need to be controlled.

Extraneous Variable

PARAMETRIC TEST

Independent Variable
is between-subjects

Independent Variable
is within-subjects

Independent Variable
has 2 categories

Independent Variable
has 3 or more
categories

Independent Variable
has 2 categories

Independent Variable
has 3 or more
categories

Independent groups ttest

One-way betweensubjects analysis of

variance (F-test)

Correlated groups
t-test

One-way repeated
measures analysis of
variance
(F-test)

NONPARAMETRIC
TEST

Independent
Variable is betweensubjects

Independent
Variable is withinsubjects

Independent
Variable has 2
categories

Independent
Variable has 3 or
more categories

Independent
Variable has 2
categories

Independent
Variable has 3 or
more categories

Wilcoxon rank sum

test / Mann-Whitney
U test
or Chi-Square test

Kruskal-Wallis
H-test or
Chi-square test

Wilcoxon
signed-rank test

Friedman analysis of
variance by ranks