Li, Jari, and Mike, If you *really* don't like nonparametics, try a permutation t-test. Here's the code for Mike's data, as well as the output I got after running it with 9999 permutations:
> #input the data into x, use g to determine the groups that data go into > x<-c(13,0,10,2,0,0,1,0,0,1,5,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1) > g<-factor(c(1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2)) > > #set up a matix a with nothing in it > a<-c() > > #split x into two groups, defined by g > x.g <- split(x,g) > x.g $`1` [1] 13 0 10 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 $`2` [1] 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 > > # do a t-test, report the results > z <- t.test(x.g$"1",x.g$"2", var.equal = TRUE) > z Two Sample t-test data: x.g$"1" and x.g$"2" t = 1.9807, df = 20, p-value = 0.06154 alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0 95 percent confidence interval: -0.1449011 5.5994465 sample estimates: mean of x mean of y 2.9090909 0.1818182 > > #permute the data, split again and report > xperm <- sample(x,NROW(x)) > xperm [1] 0 1 1 0 13 1 0 0 10 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 2 > xperm.g <- split(xperm,g) > xperm.g $`1` [1] 0 1 1 0 13 1 0 0 10 0 0 $`2` [1] 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 2 > > #permute the data 9999 times, and every time, > # compute a t-value, store its absolute value in matrix a > for(i in 1:9999) { + xperm <- sample(x,NROW(x)) + xperm.g <- split(xperm,g) + z <- t.test(xperm.g$"1",xperm.g$"2", var.equal = TRUE) + a[i] <- abs(z$statistic) + } > > #recompute the absolute value of the t-value, > # store it in the 10000 position of the array, report the matrix a > x.g <- split(x,g) > z <- t.test(x.g$"1",x.g$"2") > a[10000] <- abs(z$statistic) > #a > #show rank of your actual t-value against > # all the other t-values from the permutations > rank(a)[10000] [1] 9517.5 > > #calculate p-value as proportion of t-values from permuations that > # are greater than your actual t-value; > # what is the chance that your t could be found just by chance?, or > # "How likely is it that if the null hypothesis were true, I would > # observe a value this extreme just due to chance?" > # It is worth knowing that Fisher used randomization tests to test the value > of > # the t-test, F-tests, etc. > p <- (10000-rank(a)[10000])/10000 > p [1] 0.04825 So note that the P you get from this is less than 0.05! Like any permutation test, the P is only approximate. Cheers, Rick On Mar 24, 2014, at 8:45 AM, Li Wen <li....@environment.nsw.gov.au<mailto:li....@environment.nsw.gov.au>> wrote: HI, Jari The default in the Welch t test (an adaptive student's t test) doesn't assume equal variance; but student's t-test do assume normal distribution. Cheers Li -----Original Message----- From: r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org> [mailto:r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org] On Behalf Of Jari Oksanen Sent: Monday, 24 March 2014 10:43 PM To: Richard Boyce; r-sig-ecology@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology@r-project.org> Subject: Re: [R-sig-eco] report out by t.test Except that t-test does not assume that *observations* are normally distributed, nor that variances are equal. Avoid non-parametric tests: they assume too much of data properties. For var.equal assumption in t.test, see ?t.test. Cheers, Jari Oksanen ________________________________________ From: r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org> [r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology-boun...@r-project.org>] on behalf of Richard Boyce [boy...@nku.edu<mailto:boy...@nku.edu>] Sent: 24 March 2014 13:23 To: r-sig-ecology@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology@r-project.org> Subject: Re: [R-sig-eco] report out by t.test Mike, There is no way that your data meet the assumptions of a t-test (normal distributions, equal variance). A nonparametric Mann-Whitney (aka Wilcoxon) test is much better suited to your data. Here's what I got when I ran it: Q<-c(13,0,10,2,0,0,1,0,0,1,5) WD<-c(0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1) wilcox.test(Q,WD) Wilcoxon rank sum test with continuity correction data: Q and WD W = 86.5, p-value = 0.05119 alternative hypothesis: true location shift is not equal to 0 Warning message: In wilcox.test.default(Q, WD) : cannot compute exact p-value with ties This has a p-value quite close to 0.05, giving some evidence that there's a difference between your groups. Note that this you have different null and alternative hypothesis: groups are the same vs. groups are different. Rick Boyce On Mar 24, 2014, at 7:00 AM, r-sig-ecology-requ...@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology-requ...@r-project.org><mailto:r-sig-ecology-requ...@r-project.org> wrote: Message: 1 Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 14:21:41 -0700 From: Michael Marsh <sw...@blarg.net<mailto:sw...@blarg.net><mailto:sw...@blarg.net>> To: r-sig-ecology@r-project.org<mailto:r-sig-ecology@r-project.org><mailto:r-sig-ecology@r-project.org> Subject: [R-sig-eco] report out by t.test Message-ID: <532f5065.7030...@blarg.net<mailto:532f5065.7030...@blarg.net><mailto:532f5065.7030...@blarg.net>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed I test differences between frequency of hits of exotic annual forbs in plots on two sites, Q and WD. Q<-c(13,0,10,2,0,0,1,0,0,1,5) WD<-c(0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1) t.test(Q,WD) Welch Two Sample t-test data: Q and WD t = 1.9807, df = 10.158, p-value = 0.07533 alternative hypothesis: true difference in means is not equal to 0 95 percent confidence interval: -0.3342006 5.7887460 sample estimates: mean of x mean of y 2.9090909 0.1818182 The p-value is greater than 0.05, thus does not reach the 95% confidence level, yet the difference in means is reported as not equal to 0. Am I encountering a one-sided versus two sided comparison that I don't understand, or is ther another explanation? Mike Marsh ================================ Richard L. Boyce, Ph.D. Director, Environmental Science Program Professor Department of Biological Sciences, SC 150 Northern Kentucky University Nunn Drive Highland Heights, KY 41099 USA 859-572-1407 (tel.) 859-572-5639 (fax) boy...@nku.edu<mailto:boy...@nku.edu><mailto:boy...@nku.edu> http://www.nku.edu/~boycer/ ================================= "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." - A.A. Milne [[alternative HTML version deleted]] _______________________________________________ R-sig-ecology mailing list R-sig-ecology@r-project.org https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-ecology _______________________________________________ R-sig-ecology mailing list R-sig-ecology@r-project.org https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-ecology ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email is intended for the addressee(s) named and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and then delete it immediately. Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of the Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. PLEASE CONSIDER THE ENVIRONMENT BEFORE PRINTING THIS EMAIL ================================ Richard L. Boyce, Ph.D. Director, Environmental Science Program Professor Department of Biological Sciences, SC 150 Northern Kentucky University Nunn Drive Highland Heights, KY 41099 USA 859-572-1407 (tel.) 859-572-5639 (fax) boy...@nku.edu<mailto:boy...@nku.edu> http://www.nku.edu/~boycer/ ================================= "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." - A.A. Milne [[alternative HTML version deleted]] _______________________________________________ R-sig-ecology mailing list R-sig-ecology@r-project.org https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-ecology