ABSTRACT
ANalysis Of VAriance (ANOVA) is a set of statistical methods used to assess the mean differences across two or more groups. As others (Iverson and Norpoth, 1987) have said, a more appropriate name might be ‘‘analysis of means,’’ but the name refers to the fact that ANOVA evaluates mean differences across groups by partitioning sources of variance in the dependent variable. In its simplest form, the variance is isolated into two distinct sources, that due to group membership and that due to chance; sometimes the latter is called error, residual, or within group variance. For example, a researcher may be interested in the importance of monetary rewards for mid-level managers serving in three different sectors: public, private, and a hybrid (Wittmer, 1991). ANOVA could be used to determine whether the differences in attitudes among managers across sectors are simply due to chance.
