ABSTRACT
Like many statistical tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) originated from studies in agriculture. Researchers in the agricultural sciences often study things such as the effects of different levels of irrigation on land plots with varied levels and types of fertilizers. In investigations such as this, the researcher is often faced with situations where dozens of group means must be compared. This chapter explores situations where three or more group means are compared. The specific statistical technique to accomplish this is called ANOVA. The chapter outlines some of the advantages and theoretical assumptions that explain why ANOVA is often utilized as a statistical technique. It then presents an eighteen-step procedure for completing an ANOVA. When statistical significance is determined using ANOVA, subsequent statistical tests are often undertaken. An LSD t-test is explored in terms of its calculations and what it represents. The chapter ends with some simple examples of ANOVA summary tables and how to interpret them.
