Elementary Statistics
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Lesson 13.2 The F Distribution and the F-Ratio

The distribution used for a One-Way ANOVA is a new one.  It is called the F distribution, named after Sir Ronald Fisher, an English statistician.  The F statistic is a fraction with two sets of degrees for freedom; one for the numerator and one for the denominator.  The notation used therefore has two degrees of freedom and looks like  F ~ F4,20 where 4 is the degrees for freedom for the numerator and 20 is the degrees of freedom for the denominator.

The F distribution is derived from the Student's t-distribution, where the F distribution are are squares of the corresponding values of the t-distribution.  One-Way ANOVA expands the t-test for comparing more than two groups.  Since the derivation of this is beyond the scope of this class we will not look at it here but rather just use the concept.

Two estimates are made to calculate the F ratio.

1.  Variation between samples

  • An estimate of  σ2   that is the variance of the sample means multiplied by n (when the sample sizes are the same).  If the sample sizes are different, the variance between samples is weighted to account for the different sample sizes.
  • Also called the variation due to treatment or FACTOR (i.e. the different populations) or explained variation.

2.  Variation within samples

  • An estimate of σ2  that is the average of the sample variances (aka pooled variance).  When the sample sizes are different, the variance within samples is weighted.
  • Also called the variation due to ERROR or unexplained variation.

To calculate the F ratio (aka the F-Statistic)

The F-statistic is a 'roll-up' calculation where we take the mean square between groups (MSbetween) and divide it by the mean square within groups (MSwithin).  The MSbetween is the quotient of the sum of squares between groups (SSbetween) and the degrees of freedom between groups (dfbetween).  In turn the MSwithin is the quotient of the sum of squares within groups (SSwithin) and the degrees of freedom within groups (dfwithin).

We use the letter k to represent the number of different groups under consideration and n for the total number of samples taken from ALL groups.  This means that the degrees of freedom for the numerator is k - 1 and the degrees of freedom for the denominator is n - k.

To summarize the formulas

F = (MSbetween  ) / (MSwithin  )


MSbetween   = ( SSbetween )/ ( dfbetween)


MSwithin     = ( SSwithin )/(dfwithin )




To see the rest of the formulas needed to find the F ratio, refer to Chapter 13 of Introductory Statistics
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Fortunately for us the TI-83/84 will do the work for us

Recall that the hypotheses for a One-Way ANOVA are

Ho:  µ1 = µ2 = µ3 = ... = µk

Ha: At least two of the group means are not equal.

Using a TI83/84 calculator, you will enter each of the group samples into a separate list (L1, L2, L3, ...) and then accessing STAT, TESTS, find ANOVA(, press Enter.  You then need to type L1, L2, L3,..) where the ... will be all the lists where the samples are.  Press Enter.  The calculator will give you the following information.

The F-statistic
The p-value
Factor (the between stuff)
df
SS
MS
Error (the within stuff)
df
SS
MS

Based on the p-value when compared to the given level of significance, you make your decision about the hypothesis test.

If using some other computer software, above information is usually displayed in a table similar to

Source of
Variation
Sum of
Squares (SS)
Degrees of
Freedom (df)
Mean Square (MS)
F
Factor
(between)
SS (Factor)
k - 1
MS(Factor)
MS(Factor)/MS(Error)
Error
(within)
SS (Error)
n - k
MS(Error)

Total
SS (Total)
n - 1




Please continue to the next section of this lesson.

 

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Published by the Sofia Open Content Initiative
© 2004 Foothill-De Anza Community College District & The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation