3. A researcher is interested in comparing the Christian maturity level of students who volunteer for community service versus those who do not. The researcher assumes that those who perform community service will have higher Christian maturity scores. The maturity scores tend to be skewed (not normally distributed). Higher scores indicate higher Christian maturity.
No Community Service Community Service
32 47
40 48
54 59
13 72
20 80
26 55
a. What statistical test should be used to analyze these data?
When the assumption of a normal distribution does not hold, a non-parametric alternative may be more useful. When data distributions are skewed, the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test (also known as the Mann-Whitney U test) can be used.
The appropriate statistical test to analyze the data in this scenario would be the Mann-Whitney U test. This non-parametric test is used to compare two independent groups when the dependent variable is not normally distributed.
To compare the Christian maturity level of students who volunteer for community service versus those who do not, you can use the Mann-Whitney U test.
The Mann-Whitney U test is a non-parametric test, meaning it does not assume a normal distribution of data. Since you mentioned that the maturity scores are skewed (not normally distributed), this test is appropriate for your data.
The Mann-Whitney U test compares the ranks of observations between two groups and determines whether there is a significant difference in the distribution of scores between the groups. In your case, the two groups are students who do not perform community service and students who perform community service.
The output of the Mann-Whitney U test will provide a p-value, which tells you if there is a significant difference in Christian maturity scores between the two groups. If the p-value is below a pre-defined threshold (usually 0.05), it indicates that there is a significant difference in scores.
So, in summary, the Mann-Whitney U test should be used to analyze these data.