DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS

Thirty high school students were studied as to their characteristics in relation to joining
the Science Club. Fifteen of them joined the Science Club but the other fifteen did not
join. The study wanted to find out the characteristics of those who joined and did not
join. Furthermore, it will reveal what characteristics can discriminate those who joined
and did not join. Four characteristics were assumed to influence their desire to join;
namely, gender, grade in science, attitude towards science and sociability.

Discriminant analysis is used because there are already identified groups and the
variable measures are interval data except gender. The result of the SPSS computation
is shown below. Test the hypothesis that gender, grade in science, attitude towards
science and sociability are not predictors of joining the science club. Follow the nine
steps of hypothesis testing.

1. Problem:

a. Which of the independent variables (gender, grade, attitude and

sociability) can discriminate those who joined and did not join the Science
Club?

or
a. Which of the independent variables (gender, grade, attitude and
sociability) can predict the dependent variable (joining the Science Club)?

b. Are the cases correctly classified?

2. Null Hypotheses

Ho1: There is/are no independent variable/s (gender, grade, attitude and sociability)
that can discriminate those who joined and did not join the Science Club.

or

Ho1: No independent variable (gender, grade, attitude and sociability) can predict the
dependent variable (joining the Science Club)

Ho2: The cases are not correctly classified.

3. Choice of Statistic: Discriminant Analysis

4. Computation:

Group Statistics
Valid N (listwise)
Group Mean Std. Deviation Unweighted Weighted
Did not Gender 1.4000 .50709 15 15.000
join Grade 80.8000 2.78260 15 15.000
Attitude 50.0667 5.13346 15 15.000
Sociability 17.7333 5.14735 15 15.000
Joined Gender 1.6000 .50709 15 15.000
Grade 87.8667 2.82506 15 15.000
Attitude 64.1333 3.31375 15 15.000
Sociability 18.6667 5.98411 15 15.000
Total Gender 1.5000 .50855 30 30.000
Grade 84.3333 4.52833 30 30.000
Attitude 57.1000 8.31845 30 30.000
Sociability 18.2000 5.50486 30 30.000

Eigenvalues
Canonical
Function Eigenvalue % of Variance Cumulative % Correlation
a
1 5.276 100.0 100.0 .917
a. First 1 canonical discriminant functions were used in the analysis.

Wilks' Lambda
Test of P Value/
Function(s) Wilks' Lambda Chi-square df Sig.
1 .159 47.757 4 .000
 Tests of Equality of Group Means
Wilks' Lambda F df1 df2 Sig.
gender .960 1.167 1 28 .289
grade .370 47.639 1 28 .000
attitude .260 79.502 1 28 .000
sociability .993 .210 1 28 .651

5. Findings
Model Wilks Lambda = .159
p-value/sig. = .000 < .05

Variable Wilks Lambda

Grade = .370 p/sig. = .000<.05
Attitude = .260 p/sig. = .000<.05

% of cross validated accuracy rate was 97.5%

6. Decision

Reject Ho1; alpha is less than.05

Reject Ho2; The cross-validated accuracy rate was 97.5 % which was
more than the proportional by chance accuracy criteria of 91.6%

7. Interpretation
There are variables that can predict students’ choice to join the Science Club.
Grade in Science and Attitude Towards the subject are predictors in joining the Science
Club. Students with high grades and better attitude towards science have tendencies to
join the club than their counterparts. Joining the science club need the interest of those
who want to join. They should also be good in science in order to contribute ideas or
innovations to the organization.

8. Conclusion:
Grades and attitude can discriminate joining the science club
Both the cognitive and affective dimension of a child towards a thing has bearing
in making decisions