One-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) is a statistical technique used to determine whether there are any

differences between means of more than two groups of a single independent variable. It can be used to
test for differences in means between different age groups, different levels of education, different
treatments, and so on.

For example, suppose a researcher wants to study the effectiveness of three different medications for
treating a particular medical condition. The researcher randomly assigns participants to one of three
groups, with each group receiving a different medication. The researcher then measures the
effectiveness of each medication by measuring the participants' symptoms before and after treatment.

The researcher can conduct a one-way ANOVA to determine whether there is a significant difference in
the means of symptom improvement between the three medication groups. The null hypothesis is that
there is no significant difference in the means of symptom improvement between the groups, and the
alternative hypothesis is that there is a significant difference.

The statistical analysis calculates the F-statistic, which compares the between-group variance to the
within-group variance. If the F-value is greater than the critical F-value at a chosen level of significance
(e.g., p<0.05), the null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that at least one of the three medication groups
is significantly different from the others.

In summary, one-way ANOVA is a statistical test used to determine if there are differences between
means of more than two groups of a single independent variable. It can be used in many different fields
to compare means of groups with different treatments, ages, or education levels.

To solve an ANOVA problem using the ANOVA table and formula, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: State the null and alternative hypotheses and choose the level of significance (alpha).

- Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the means of the groups.

- Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the means of the groups.

- Alpha: Choose a level of significance (typically 0.05).

Step 2: Calculate the sample means and overall mean.

- Calculate the mean of each group.

- Calculate the overall mean (mean of all the data points).

Step 3: Calculate the total sum of squares (SST).

- SST = sum of squared deviations of all the data points from the overall mean.

Step 4: Calculate the sum of squares between groups (SSB).

- SSB = sum of squared deviations of the group means from the overall mean, multiplied by the
sample size of each group.

Step 5: Calculate the sum of squares within groups (SSW).

- SSW = sum of squared deviations of each data point from its group mean.

Step 6: Calculate the degrees of freedom (df) for each source of variation.

- df between = number of groups – 1

- df within = total sample size – number of groups

- df total = total sample size – 1

Step 7: Calculate the mean squares (MS) for each source of variation.

- MS between = SSB / df between

- MS within = SSW / df within

Step 8: Calculate the F-statistic.

- F = MS between / MS within

Step 9: Determine the critical F-value and compare to the calculated F-statistic.

- Using a table or calculator that provides F-distribution critical values, find the critical F-value for the
significance level and degrees of freedom.

- If the calculated F-value is greater than the critical F-value, reject the null hypothesis. If it is less than or
equal to the critical F-value, fail to reject the null hypothesis.

Step 10: Interpret the results.

- If the null hypothesis is rejected, there is significant evidence that the means of at least two of the
groups are different.

- If the null hypothesis is not rejected, there is not enough evidence to conclude that the means of the
groups are different.

Note: Post-hoc tests, such as Tukey’s HSD, can be used to determine which groups have significantly
different means after rejecting the null hypothesis.

To generate an ANOVA table, we need the following information:

- The number of groups (k)

- The total sample size (n)

- The sum of squares between groups (SSB)

- The degrees of freedom for SSB (dfB)

- The mean square between groups (MSB)

- The sum of squares within groups (SSW)

- The degrees of freedom for SSW (dfW)

- The mean square within groups (MSW)

- The F statistic

- The p-value

Let’s assume the following information:

-k=4

- n1 = 20, n2 = 18, n3 = 22, n4 = 19 (total sample size: n = 79)

- SSB = 300

- dfB = k – 1 = 3

- MSB = SSB / dfB

- SSW = 1200

- dfW = n – k = 79 – 4 = 75
- MSW = SSW / dfW

- F = MSB / MSW

- p-value = ??? (we need more information to calculate this)

Using this information, we can calculate the ANOVA table:

Source | SS | df | MS |F | p-value

-------|---------|----|---------|---------|--------

Between| 300 | 3 | MSB | MSB/MSW | p-value

-------|---------|----|---------|---------|--------

Within | 1200 | 75 | MSW | |

-------|---------|----|---------|---------|--------

Total | 1500 | 78 | | |

Let’s calculate the missing values:

- MSB = SSB / dfB = 300 / 3 = 100

- MSW = SSW / dfW = 1200 / 75 = 16

And now we have:

Source | SS | df | MS |F | p-value

-------|---------|----|---------|----------|--------

Between| 300 | 3 | 100 | 6.25 | p-value

-------|---------|----|---------|----------|--------

Within | 1200 | 75 | 16 | |

-------|---------|----|---------|----------|--------

Total | 1500 | 78 | | |
To calculate the p-value, we need to use a statistical software or a table of F distribution, using the F
statistic and the degrees of freedom for between and within groups. Once you have the p-value, you can
interpret the results according to the level of significance (e.g., p < 0.05).