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e results of the ANOVA show that there was a statistically signi%cant di$erence among the di$erent age groups and each of the %ve most in&uencing factors
In a t-test you are able to test one sample mean vs. a single value or two sample means against each other. Analysis of Variance allows you to test if multiple means are equal to each other. In other words, the null hypothesis of the t-test is: 1 = 2 the null hypothesis for ANOVA is: 1 = 2 = 3 = .... = n The reason we have the different tests is because of the errors in multiple testing. Say you have four means to look at, 1, 2, 3, 4. If you use t-tests to test if each mean is equal to each other at say the 0.05 significance level then you have a 4C2 = 6 tests to conduct and a probability of not committing a Type I error decreasing from 0.95 to 0.95^6 = 0.7350919. This means that using 6 independent t-tests for the four equality of four means you have a probability of committing a Type I error, reject the null hypothesis when it is true, from 0.05 to over 26%. Not good. you can correct this by using the Bonferroni correct or Fisher's LSD or any other multiple testing correction method. In ANOVA, the test is designed to test for multiple mean equalities and the significance of the test is preserved.