Timeline for Choosing the right test when comparing two groups: Mann-Whitney, Kolmogorov-Smirnov or other?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
4 events
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| Mar 22, 2012 at 15:17 | comment | added | Will | I'm not familiar with the K-S test but after a bit of googling, it looks to me to be a test for comparing the distribution of a continuous variable across two groups or samples. This would not be appropriate for your data. For starters, one group consists of only 4 cases and there is no 'distribution' because they all have the same value (4). More generally, if your data is as you describe (i.e. 10 cases) then there are going to be minimal conclusions you can draw from it, regardless of how thoughtfully you design your analysis. | |
| Mar 21, 2012 at 16:44 | comment | added | user900978 | Will, thanks for your answer. You have been really clear. And what about Kolmogorov-Smirnov? If I right understood, it gives similiar results, but is preferred to Mann-Whitney for small samples. Is this right? | |
| Mar 21, 2012 at 16:19 | comment | added | Will | I wanted to add that the Mann-Whitney test is essentially the same as the t-test but assumes that the Y variable is ordinal, rather than interval. In practice the results will be the same - the difference between the groups will be significant at the .05 level. | |
| Mar 21, 2012 at 15:02 | history | answered | Will | CC BY-SA 3.0 |