Wilcoxon Test

Wilcoxon test
Wilcoxon test (Wilcoxon matched pairs signedrank) is the nonparametric alternative to the
dependent t test. Thus when the two groups
are related, through either matching or repeated
measurements, and the assumptions or
requirements of the parametric procedures
cannot be met, the Wilcoxon is the best choice.
The Wilcoxon, like the Mann-Whitney U Test, an
Ho which asserts that population from which the
samples are drawn are the same.
The H1 can be either be non-directional or
directional.

Assumptions:
The samples must be correlated
It must be possible to rank the differences
between the two samples.

To compute Wilocoxon Tobt

1.

2.
3.

Determine the difference score (D) for each pair of

scores. Subtract the score in one condition from the
score in the other for each pair. It makes no difference
which score is subtracted from which, but subtract the
scores the same way for all pairs.
Determine the N of nonzero difference scores. Ignore
any difference scores equal to zero, and count the
number of other difference scores.
Assign ranks to the non-zero difference scores. Ignore
the sign (+ or -) of each difference. Assign the rank of 1
to the smallest difference, the rank of 2 to the smallest
difference, and so on. Record ranked scores in column.

To compute Wilocoxon Tobt

4. Separate the ranks, using the sign of the
difference scores. Create two columns of
ranks, labeled R- and R+ The R- column
contains the ranks assigned to negative
differences in step 32 above. The R- column
contains the ranks assigned to positive
differences.
5. Compute the sum of ranks for the positive and
negative scores. Compute the R for the
column labelled R+, and the column R- .
6. Determine the Wilocoxon Tobt.

To compute Wilocoxon Tobt

7. Find the critial value of T in the Table.
8. Compare Tobt to Tcrit.
9. Make decision.
10. Draw conclusion.

Example:
An experiment to find out whether different work
schedules will result in different productivity ratings is
conducted on 10 accountants in an accounting firm.
Productivity is measured for 1 month on the regular 9-to5 schedule, and then have their productivity measured,
after a 2 week adjustment period, for 1 month on the
earlier 6-to-2 schedule. Productivity is measured by the
number of dollars produced for all the company
accountants, divided by the mean number of dollars
produced by all company accountants. The productivity
measure of the 10 accountants on the two different work
schedules are listed below. Is it significant at = 0.05?

Solution:
Intervals within this data is not equal, so it does
not meet the minimum data type requirements
for the test.
A non-parametric test must be used to analyse
the data.
Same participants were used in both conditions,
i.e the two samples should be correlated.
The Wilcoxon T test is the most appropriate

 Hypothesis:
Ho: There is no statistically significant
different work schedules on productivity
rating at alpha 0.05
H1: There is a statistically significant
different work schedules on productivity
rating at alpha 0.05

Find the Wilcoxon T

R+ = 30
R- = 15
Wilcoxon T = 15

To find the critical value, you need to find out the research hypothesis if it
is one-tailed or tw0-tailed. In this case it is two-tailed or non-directional.
n = 9 because there were 10 original pairs and only one of those had zero
difference. So the critical value of Wilcoxon T that correspond to 9 signed
rank at = 0.05 is 5.

 Test value 15 > than critical value 5

Do not reject your null hypothesis.
Different work schedules will not
result in different productivity rating.

Exercise
An experiment to find out whether there is
different reaction time to different colour
symbol is conducted. A certain symbol
printed in (i) red ink and (ii) black ink is
tested on 10 people. Reaction times are
taken using the red ink symbol followed by
black in symbols. The data are as follows.
Can we conclude at = 0.05, that there is
no significant difference between the
reaction time and the colour of symbols?

Participant

Reaction Time to red

symbols

Reaction time to black

symbols

540

760

580

710

600

1105

680

880

430

500

740

990

600

1050

690

640

605

595

10

520

520

Thank You