Re: Non-independence of observations

Posted by John F Hall on Aug 21, 2011; 7:53am
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/Non-independence-of-observations-tp4719595p4719967.html

Is there no possibility of giving each kid a confidential pass number (on a scratch card if necessary) to be given as each meal is ordered?  That way there wouldn’t even be a list to tie names to numbers, but would the kids remember their numbers?

 

From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Nikos Ntoumanis
Sent: 20 August 2011 11:13
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Non-independence of observations

 

Dear all,

I would be grateful if someone could offer me advice of appropriate statistical analysis for the following problem. I am involved in a research proposal examining the choice of food in school canteens over a period of a few weeks. For various reasons, we are not  able to code/record the identity of kids; we can only code the meal choice. Obviously, we cannot assume that the repeated observations (i.e., meal choices) within a school are independent. How can we correct for this? I know how this problem can be addressed when student ID can be recorded, but what about when it cannot be recorded?

Thanks

Nikos