Re: Question About Tests of Normality and Choice of Statistical Analysis

Posted by Bruce Weaver on Dec 31, 2014; 4:39pm
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/Question-About-Tests-of-Normality-and-Choice-of-Statistical-Analysis-tp5728302p5728308.html

Hi Brian.  My thoughts on testing for normality as a precursor to a parametric test are summarized in a conference presentation I gave a few years ago.  A PDF of the slides can be found here:

https://www.nosm.ca/uploadedFiles/Research/Northern_Health_Research_Conference/Weaver,%20Bruce_Silly%20or%20Pointless%20Things.pdf

Cheers & Happy New Year.
Bruce

bdates wrote

With regard to tests of normality such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk, Anderson-Darling, etc., is anyone out there using the results to determine whether to perform a parametric (e.g., t-test) or non-parametric (e.g., Mann-Whitney U) on a dataset?  If the data are interval, but are found not normal according to one of these tests, is that enough to discard a parametric statistic?  Thanks.

Brian

Brian Dates, M.A.
Director of Evaluation and Research | Evaluation & Research | Southwest Counseling Solutions
Southwest Solutions
1700 Waterman, Detroit, MI 48209
313-841-8900 (x7442) office | 313-849-2702 fax
[hidden email]<mailto:[hidden email]> | www.swsol.org<http://www.swsol.org/>


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