Mann-Whitney U Test

Mann-Whitney U test is the alternative test to

the independent sample t-test . It is a non-
parametric test that is used to compare two
population means that come from the same
population, it is also used to test whether two
population means are equal or not. It is used for
equal sample sizes , and is used to test the median
of two populations. Usually the Mann-Whitney U
test is used when the data is ordinal. Wilcoxon
rank sum, Kendalls and Mann-Whitney U test are
similar tests and in the case of ties, it is
equivalent to the chi-square test .

Assumptions:
Mann-Whitney U test is a non-parametric test,
hence it does not assume any assumptions
related to the distribution. There are, however,
some assumptions that are assumed
1. The sample drawn from the population is
random.
2. Independence within the samples and mutual
independence is assumed.
3. Ordinal measurement scale is assumed.

Calculation:

Where:
U=Mann-Whitney U test
N 1 = sample size one
N2= Sample size two
R i = Rank of the sample size
Use:
Mann-Whitney U test is used for every field, but in
frequently used in psychology, medical/nursing
and business. For example, in psychology, it is
used to compare attitude or behavior, etc. In
medicine, it is used to know the effect of two
medicines and whether they are equal or not. It
is also used to know whether or not a particular
medicine cures the ailment or not. In business, it
can be used to know the preferences of different
people and it can be used to see if that changes
depending on location.

Administration, Analysis and Reporting

Statistics Solutions consists of a team of
professional methodologists and statisticians that
can assist the student or professional researcher
in administering the survey instrument, collecting
the data, conducting the analyses and explaining
the results.

Conduct and Interpret a Mann-

Whitney U-Test
What is the Mann-Whitney U-Test?
The Mann-Whitney U-test, is a statistical
comparison of the mean. The U-test is a member
of the bigger group of dependence tests.
Dependence tests assume that the variables in
the analysis can be split into independent and
dependent variables. A dependence tests that
compares the mean scores of an independent and
a dependent variable assumes that differences in
the mean score of the dependent variable are
caused by the independent variable. In most
analyses the independent variable is also called
factor, because the factor splits the sample in
two or more groups, also called factor steps.

Other dependency tests that compare the mean

scores of two or more groups are the F-test, ANOVA
and the t-test family. Unlike the t-test and F-test, the
Mann-Whitney U-test is a non-paracontinuous-level
test. That means that the test does not assume any
properties regarding the distribution of the underlying
variables in the analysis. This makes the Mann-
Whitney U-test the analysis to use when analyzing
variables of ordinal scale. The Mann-Whitney U-test is
also the mathematical basis for the H-test (also called
Kruskal Wallis H), which is basically nothing more than
a series of pairwise U-tests.

Because the test was initially designed in 1945 by Wilcoxon for two
samples of the same size and in 1947 further developed by Mann
and Whitney to cover diff erent sample sizes the test is also called
MannWhitneyWilcoxon (MWW), Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Wilcoxon
MannWhitney test, or Wilcoxon two-sample test.

The Mann-Whitney U-test is mathematically identical to conducting

an independent sample t-test (also called 2-sample t-test) with
ranked values. This approach is similar to the step from Pearson's
bivariate correlation coeffi cient to Spearman's rho. The U-test,
however, does apply a pooled ranking of all variables.

The U-test is a non-paracontinuous-level test, in contrast to the t-

tests and the F-test; it does not compare mean scores but median
scores of two samples. Thus it is much more robust against outliers
and heavy tail distributions. Because the Mann-Whitney U-test is a
non-paracontinuous-level test it does not require a special
distribution of the dependent variable in the analysis. Thus it is the
best test to compare mean scores when the dependent variable is
not normally distributed and at least of ordinal scale.

For the test of signifi cance of the Mann-Whitney U-test it is assumed

that with n > 80 or each of the two samples at least > 30 the
distribution of the U-value from the sample approximates normal
distribution. The U-value calculated with the sample can be
compared against the normal distribution to calculate the
confi dence level.

The goal of the test is to test for diff erences of the media that are
caused by the independent variable. Another interpretation of the
test is to test if one sample stochastically dominates the other
sample. The U-value represents the number of times observations
in one sample precede observations in the other sample in the
ranking. Which is that with the two samples X and Y the Prob(X>Y)
> Prob(Y>X). Sometimes it also can be found that the Mann-
Whitney U-test tests whether the two samples are from the same
population because they have the same distribution. Other non-
paracontinuous-level tests to compare the mean score are the
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z-test, and the Wilcoxon sign test

What is the Mann-Whitney U-Test?

The Mann-Whitney U-test, is a statistical comparison of the mean.

The U-test is a member of the bigger group of dependence tests.
Dependence tests assume that the variables in the analysis can be
split into independent and dependent variables. A dependence
tests that compares the mean scores of an independent and a
dependent variable assumes that diff erences in the mean score of
the dependent variable are caused by the independent variable. In
most analyses the independent variable is also called factor,
because the factor splits the sample in two or more groups, also
called factor steps.

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Other dependency tests that compare the mean

scores of two or more groups are the F-test, ANOVA
and the t-test family. Unlike the t-test and F-test, the
Mann-Whitney U-test is a non-paracontinuous-level
test. That means that the test does not assume any
properties regarding the distribution of the underlying
variables in the analysis. This makes the Mann-
Whitney U-test the analysis to use when analyzing
variables of ordinal scale. The Mann-Whitney U-test is
also the mathematical basis for the H-test (also called
Kruskal Wallis H), which is basically nothing more than
a series of pairwise U-tests.

Because the test was initially designed in 1945 by Wilcoxon for two
samples of the same size and in 1947 further developed by Mann
and Whitney to cover diff erent sample sizes the test is also called
MannWhitneyWilcoxon (MWW), Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Wilcoxon
MannWhitney test, or Wilcoxon two-sample test.
The Mann-Whitney U-test is mathematically identical to conducting
an independent sample t-test (also called 2-sample t-test) with
ranked values. This approach is similar to the step from Pearson's
bivariate correlation coeffi cient to Spearman's rho. The U-test,
however, does apply a pooled ranking of all variables.

The U-test is a non-paracontinuous-level test, in contrast to the t-

tests and the F-test; it does not compare mean scores but median
scores of two samples. Thus it is much more robust against outliers
and heavy tail distributions. Because the Mann-Whitney U-test is a
non-paracontinuous-level test it does not require a special
distribution of the dependent variable in the analysis. Thus it is the
best test to compare mean scores when the dependent variable is
not normally distributed and at least of ordinal scale.

For the test of signifi cance of the Mann-Whitney U-test it is assumed

that with n > 80 or each of the two samples at least > 30 the
distribution of the U-value from the sample approximates normal
distribution. The U-value calculated with the sample can be
compared against the normal distribution to calculate the
confi dence level.

The goal of the test is to test for diff erences of the media that are
caused by the independent variable. Another interpretation of the
test is to test if one sample stochastically dominates the other
sample. The U-value represents the number of times observations
in one sample precede observations in the other sample in the
ranking. Which is that with the two samples X and Y the Prob(X>Y)
> Prob(Y>X). Sometimes it also can be found that the Mann-
Whitney U-test tests whether the two samples are from the same
population because they have the same distribution. Other non-
paracontinuous-level tests to compare the mean score are the
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z-test, and the Wilcoxon sign test.

The Mann-Whitney U-Test in Intellectus

Statistics

The Mann-Whitney U-Test in SPSS

The research question for our U-Test is as follows:

Do the students that passed the exam achieve a
higher grade on the standardized reading test?

The question indicates that the independent variable is whether the

students have passed the fi nal exam or failed the fi nal exam, and
the dependent variable is the grade achieved on the standardized
reading test (A to F).

The Mann-Whitney U-Test can be found

inAnalyze/Nonparacontinuous-level Tests/Legacy
Dialogs/2 Independent Samples

In the dialog box for the nonparacontinuous-level two independent

samples test, we select the ordinal test variable 'mid-term
exam 1' , which contains the pooled ranks, and our nominal
grouping variable ' Exam '. With a click on 'Defi ne Groups ' we
need to specify the valid values for thegrouping variable Exam ,
which in this case are 0 = fail and 1 = pass.
We also need to select the Test Type. The Mann-Whitney U-Test is
marked by default. Like the Mann-Whitney U-Test the Kolmogorov-
Smirnov Z-Test and the Wald-Wolfowitz runs-test have the null
hypothesis that both samples are from the same population. Moses
extreme reactions test has a diff erent null hypothesis: the range of
both samples is the same.

The U-test compares the ranking, Z-test compares the diff erences in
distributions, Wald-Wolfowitz compares sequences in ranking, and
Moses compares the ranges of the two samples. The Kolmogorov-
Smirnov Z-Test requires continuous-level data (interval or ratio
scale), the Mann-Whitney U-Test, Wald-Wolfowitz runs, and Moses
extreme reactions require ordinal data.

If we select Mann-Whitney U, SPSS will calculate the U-value and

Wilcoxon's W, which the sum of the ranks for the smaller sample. If
the values in the sample are not already ranked, SPSS will sort the
observations according to the test variable and assign ranks to each
observation.

The dialog box Exact allows us to specify an exact non-

paracontinuous-level test of signifi cance and the dialog box
Options defi nes how missing values are managed and if SPSS
should output additional`gvb descriptive statistics.

http://www.statisticssolutions.com/mann-whitney-
u-test-2/

Mann-Whitney U Test Calculator

This is a simple Mann-Whitney U test calculator that provides a detailed breakdown of ranks,
calculations, data and so on.

Mann-Whitney U Calculator

Further Information

The Mann-Whitney U test is a nonparametric test that allows two groups or conditions or
treatments to be compared without making the assumption that values are normally
distributed. So, for example, one might compare the speed at which two different groups of
people can run 100 metres, where one group has trained for six weeks and the other has
not.

Requirements
 Two random, independent samples

The data is continuous - in other words, it must, in principle, be possible to

distinguish between values at the nth decimal place

Scale of measurement should be ordinal, interval or ratio

For maximum accuracy, there should be no ties, though this test - like others - has a
way to handle ties

Null Hypothesis

The null hypothesis asserts that the medians of the two samples are identical.

Equation