In: Statistics and Probability
What is the F-statistic?
Solution :-
The F-statistic is the test statistic for F-tests. In general, an F-statistic is a ratio of two quantities that are expected to be roughly equal under the null hypothesis, which produces an F-statistic of approximately 1.
F-statistic = variation between sample means / variation within the samples
An F statistic is a value you get when you run an ANOVA test or a regression analysis to find out if the means between two populations are significantly different. It’s similar to a T statistic from a T-Test; A-T test will tell you if a single variable is statistically significant and an F test will tell you if a group of variables are jointly significant.
The F Value in ANOVA
The F value in one way ANOVA is a tool to help you answer the question “Is the variance between the means of two populations significantly different?” The F value in the ANOVA test also determines the P value; The P value is the probability of getting a result at least as extreme as the one that was actually observed, given that the null hypothesis is true.
The p value is a probability, while the f ratio is a test statistic, calculated as:
F value = variance of the group means (Mean Square Between) / mean of the within group variances (Mean Squared Error)
F Value in Regression
The F value in regression is the result of a test where the null hypothesis is that all of the regression coefficients are equal to zero. In other words, the model has no predictive capability. Basically, the f-test compares your model with zero predictor variables (the intercept only model), and decides whether your added coefficients improved the model. If you get a significant result, then whatever coefficients you included in your model improved the model’s fit.