Chi-Square

Research Question - Are boys more likely to have sexual intercourse than girls?
Analysis - The independent variable is gender (boy/girl), which is a nominal variable with two groups.
The dependent variable is Q53 sexual intercourse (had sex/has not had sex), which is also a nominal
variable with two groups or categories. The Chi-Square test will compare the frequency of having sexual
intercourse between males and females. Therefore, a Chi-Square is the best analysis for this research
question.
Step-By-Step and Interpretation
ANALYZE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS CROSSTABS
In the row box, put Q53 (whether someone had sexual intercourse)
In the column box, put Q2 (gender)
Click on the cells button and check expected and observed located under counts menu and
column located under percentages menu.
CLICK CONTINUE
Finally, CLICK on Statistics button and check Chi Square
CLICK continue. CLICK OK.

In your second table we have your crosstabs where you can view your observed and expected count.
The expected count is what you would expect to observe if there was no association. For example, if
gender had no association with sexual intercourse. So gender is independent from whether or not
someone had sexual intercourse. So you would expect to observe around 443 males who have had
sexual intercourse and 744 males who have not had sexual intercourse (red oval). Similarly, you would
expect to observe an estimated 371 females who have had sexual intercourse and 623 females who
have not had sexual intercourse (red oval). Obviously, your observed count is different from your
expected count. The Chi Square Test helps determine if those observed counts are different enough for
the test to be significantly significant or conclude that the association is significant.
The percentages allow us to get a percentage display of how many males or females did or did not have
sexual intercourse. Suppose you were asked, what percentage of males have had sexual intercourse?
In our row we look at have you ever had sexual intercourse yes, then look at % within what is your
sex. In the male column it says 38.9% (orange star). Therefore, we can conclude that 38.9% of males
have had sexual intercourse. Finally, you will observe your Chi Square Test table. It is important to view
the bottom of the table (blue arrow) which notes the cell size. This should be done first because the first
item tells you which percentage of the cells have an expected count less than 5. This is important
because its an assumption of the Chi Square Test. The standard rule is if the percentage is greater than
20% then the assumption has been violated. Hence, a different test would need to be determined.
However, in our example the percentage is 0%, meaning that 0 cells have an expected count of 0.
Therefore, the assumption has not been violated. We can see that the minimum is actually 370.98.
Therefore, this assumption is okay. Now look at The Chi Squares Tests table and read the Pearson ChiSquare value which says 2.027 (blue triangle). This measures the hypothesis that the row and column
variables in the crosstabulation are independent of one another. The Chi Square shows you that there is
a relationship between gender and sexual intercourse. However, it does not show the strength or
direction. This is known as The Chi Square Statistic. Then look at the DF meaning you have 1 degree of
freedom. Then view your Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) which is also known as your p-value, or your significance
value which is .155. Most of the time we test the .5 level of significance. In my example, the value of
.155 is less than the p-value 0.05. Therefore, your result will be statistically significant. We would accept
our alternate hypothesis, which claims that there is a significant relationship between gender and sexual
intercourse. In other words, sexual intercourse is not independent from gender. It is dependent on
gender.