Three-way ANOVA in SPSS In order to run a three-way ANOVA in SPSS, the data need to be arranged a certain way.

Each subject has his/her own row, with information about independent variables and dependent variables in the columns. We will need to open an empty data spreadsheet in SPSS. First, enter the values for the dependent variable in one column. We can label this column by clicking on the tab at the bottom of the window labeled variable view. Then we need to click back to data view. In the second column, we need enter information about the first Independent Variable (the first factor) by assigning names or numbers to each level (or group) and typing the appropriate level for each participant (row) in the appropriate box in the column. Next we need enter the second Independent Variable in a third column by assigning names or numbers to its levels and entering the appropriate level in the appropriate box for each participant (row). Depending on which data set we were working with, spreadsheet start with something like the following:

Running a Three Way ANOVA When we run a one-way ANOVA, we used a special menu command for that type of analysis (as you'll see below). But since one can have a broad range of factors in an ANOVA, SPSS has a more general menu command that allows you to do all kinds of ANOVAs (one-way, two-way, three-way, etc.). For our case, we need to click on ANALYZE -> GENERAL LINEAR MODEL -> MULTIVARIATE.

The dependent box is for the dependent (continuous) variable that we want to analyze. The Fixed factor box is for the set of factors (groups) we want to look at.

Click ok and well get your three-way ANOVA table. If we only put one factor into the box, wed get a one-way ANOVA. If we put in 2 factors, youd get a 2way ANOVA. We get the picture.

To get SPSS to print out information about the means of the cells, click on the Options button in the univariate model window. In the menu that opens, indicate that we want SPSS to display the means for the two factors and their interaction.

If we want to run multiple comparison tests on the means, check the compare main effects box and indicate what type of multiple comparison you want (LSD, Bonferroni, etc.). Then click continue to get back to the univariate model window. When we run the analysis, the information about the means will be printed below the ANOVA table. In final of analysis, we can get a next result:
GLM Age Height Weight BY Gender / METHOD=SSTYPE(3) / INTERCEPT=INCLUDE / POSTHOC=Gender(LSD) / CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05) / DESIGN= Gender. General Linear Model Notes Output Created Input Comments Active Dataset 24-Jul-2011 18:46:45 DataSet0

Filter Weight Split File N of Rows in Working Data Missing Value Handling File Definition of Missing Cases Used Syntax

<none> <none> <none> 20 User-defined missing values are treated as missing. Statistics are based on all cases with valid data for all variables in the model. GLM Age Height Weight BY Gender /METHOD=SSTYPE(3) /INTERCEPT=INCLUDE /POSTHOC=Gender(LSD) /CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05) /DESIGN= Gender.

Resources

Processor Time Elapsed Time

0:00:00.015 0:00:00.015

[DataSet0] Between-Subjects Factors N Gender Female Male 10 10

Multivariate Testsb Effect Intercept Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Gender Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root a. Exact statistic b. Design: Intercept + Gender Value .999 .001 688.240 688.240 .822 .178 4.620 4.620 F 3670.612 3670.612 3670.612 3670.612 24.642 24.642 24.642
a a a a a a a

Hypothesis df 3.000 3.000 3.000 3.000 3.000 3.000 3.000 3.000

Error df 16.000 16.000 16.000 16.000 16.000 16.000 16.000 16.000

Sig. .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

24.642a

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Depende nt Source Corrected Model Variable Age Height Weight Intercept Age Height Weight Gender Age Height Weight Error Age Height Weight Total Age Height Weight Corrected Total Age Height Weight Type III Sum of Squares 28.800
a b c

df 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 18 18 18 20 20 20 19 19 19

Mean Square 28.800 5428.512 3672.050 11712.800 623574.613 98140.050 28.800 5428.513 3672.050 12.911 67.729 172.939

5428.512 3672.050

11712.800 623574.613 98140.050 28.800 5428.513 3672.050 232.400 1219.125 3112.900 11974.000 630222.250 104925.000 261.200 6647.637 6784.950

a. R Squared = .110 (Adjusted R Squared = .061) b. R Squared = .817 (Adjusted R Squared = .806) c. R Squared = .541 (Adjusted R Squared = .516) Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Depende nt Source Corrected Model Variable Age Height Weight Intercept Age Height Weight Gender Age Height Weight F 2.231 80.150 21.233 907.188 9206.884 567.484 2.231 80.150 21.233 Sig. .153 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .153 .000 .000

SPSS interpretation We use ANOVA to determine if the means are statistically different. But we dont have to use ANOVA to find out some basic information about mean differences.

Sig value This value will help us determine if our condition means were relatively the same or if they were significantly different from one another. Put differently, this value will help us determine if our variable had an effect. In this example, the Sig. value is 0.153. If the Sig value is greater than 05 We can conclude that there is no statistically significant difference between our three conditions. We can conclude that the differences between condition Means are likely due to chance and not likely due to the manipulation. If the Sig value is less than or equal to .05 We can conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between our three conditions. We can conclude that the differences between condition Means are not likely due to change and are probably due to the manipulation. Our example The Sig. value in our example is 0.153. This value is more than .05. Because of this, we can conclude that there is a statistically difference between the mean number o words remembered for all of our conditions (age). Our example The Sig. value in our example is 0.153. This value is less than .05. Because of this, we can conclude that there is a statistically difference between the mean number o words remembered for all of our conditions (age).