Question

Provide an example of a research plan that would use a one-way ANOVA. Include in your example the IV & DV and what you would do with the data you are collecting and how the groups are formed.

Answer 1

Provide an example of a research plan that would use a one-way ANOVA. Include in your example the IV & DV and what you would do with the data you are collecting and how the groups are formed.

The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine whether there are any statistically significant differences between the means of two or more independent (unrelated) groups (although you tend to only see it used when there are a minimum of three, rather than two groups). For example, you could use a one-way ANOVA to understand whether exam performance differed based on test anxiety levels amongst students, dividing students into three independent groups (e.g., low, medium and high-stressed students). Also, it is important to realize that the one-way ANOVA is an omnibus test statistic and cannot tell you which specific groups were statistically significantly different from each other; it only tells you that at least two groups were different. Since you may have three, four, five or more groups in your study design, determining which of these groups differ from each other is important. You can do this using a post hoc test (N.B., we discuss post hoc tests later in this guide).