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Researchers often have more than two groups they want to compare, such as different types of treatments, different age groups, or different dosages of a treatment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) determines if a statistical difference exists among groups, but it does not determine which groups are significantly different. Analysis of variance is used frequently in nursing and medical research, and medical-surgical nurses should be familiar with this statistical procedure.
When researchers have multiple comparisons to make in a study, they can use Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). A one-way ANOVA or an F test is a statistical procedure to determine if a difference exists among three or more variables (e.g., different dosages of an intervention, different timeframes). In this column, I will discuss the meaning of this statistic and its use in data analysis.
T-Test and ANOVA_
A review of ř-tests is a helpful starting point. A Student's ř-test is used to compare the means of two different groups. In other words, it can test the hypothesis that the means of two groups are different from each other greater than chance or that the difference is statistically significant. ANOVA extends this type of test to more than two groups. Why ANOVA and not multiple t-tests? Multiple ř-tests would increase the...