PEER-R EV IEW ED
One-Way Analysis of Variance
Abhishek Vijayvargiya
INTRODUCTION
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is an extremely important
method in exploratory and confirmatory data analysis.
Unfortunately, in some complex problems it is not always
easy to set up an appropriate ANOVA. ANOVA is classified
as one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA (1). This paper
shows how easily one-way ANOVA can be used to deter-
mine whether there is a statistically significant difference
in the data analysis of a problem.
ANOVA—TERM REVEALED
In statistics, ANOVA is a collection of statistical models,
and their associated procedures, in which the observed
variance is partitioned into components because of dif-
ferent explanatory variables. The initial techniques of the
ANOVA were developed by the statistician and geneticist
R. A. Fisher; thus, one can say that ANOVA is a statistical
model meant to analyze data. Usually the variables in
an ANOVA analysis are categorical, not continuous. For
one-way ANOVA we make use of an F Table (2) with the
value of alpha as 0.05.
ANOVA’S ROLE
ANOVA for balanced data does the following three things
at once:
• Comparisons of mean squares, along with F-tests (1,
2)
• Under ANOVA the sum of squares indicate the variance
of each component of the decomposition (1)
• Closely related to the ANOVA is a linear model fit with
coefficient estimates and standard errors.
IS ANOVA OBSOLETE?
What is the analysis of variance? Econometricians see it as
an uninteresting special case of linear regression. Instruc-
tors see it as one of the hardest topics in classical statis-
tics to teach. However this paper shows how the ideas
of ANOVA are useful in many applications of statistics.
For more Author
information,
go to
gxpandjvt.com/bios
[ ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhishek Vijayvargiya is a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the
University of Miami. He can be reached by e-mail at abhi1617@yahoo.co.in.
2 JOURNAL OF VALIDATION TECHNOLOGY [WINTER 2009]
For the purpose of this paper, we consider the following
sample problem (3).
A SAMPLE PROBLEM
A medical device manufacturing company runs three
injection-molding machines for the production of silicone
valves. There is reason to believe that the three molding
processes may not be producing similar products. A
company expert in designed experiments and statistical
techniques is called in to assess the operation. The expert
is presented with the data in Table I, which represent
the “Shore A” hardness, or durometer, of the molded
silicone valves.
The problem can be easily solved using one-way
ANOVA and, after getting the final result, one can
compare it with the value obtained from an F Table
(2) for an alpha value of 0.05.
FORMULAS USED
For solving one-way ANOVA, one needs to find out the
mean of the total sample. This can be done by adding the
values of all the components and dividing the total sum
by total number of components. Further, one needs to
find out the correction factor, which can be obtained by
using Formula 1.
[Formula 1]
For the problem presented in this paper, after finding
the correction factor we find the sum of squares (SOS)
or machine sum of squares (MSOS), under which we
individually take the squares of the sum of all the three
machines and then add all the three outputs, and fur-
ther subtract it from the correction factor obtained (1).
The total sum of squares (TSOS) is found by using For-
mula 2. Error can be then found by subtracting MSOS
by TSOS.
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 A B H I S H E K V I J A Y VA R G I Y A

Table I: “Shore A” hardness, or durometer, of the

molded silicone valves.
Machine A Machine B Machine C
[Formula 2] 40 39.8 40.5

40.5 39.8 41
PROBLEM SOLVING
Table II presents the ANOVA for solving the sample 40 40.5 41
problem.
40.6 40 41.1
Machine degrees of freedom (DOF) = Number of
Machines – 1 40.2 41 41.2
Error DOF = Total number of data values - Number
of Machines
Total DOF = Total number of data values - 1 Table II: ANOVA for sample problem.
Machine A Machine B Machine C
Correction factor = 24579.46
Machine sum of squares = 1.732 40 39.8 40.5
Total sum of squares = 3.424 40.5 39.8 41
Error SOS- (3.424 – 1.732) = 1.692
40 40.5 41
Machine mean square = (Machine SOS)/(Machine
DOF) 40.6 40 41.1
Error mean square = (Error SOS)/(Error DOF)
40.2 41 41.2
Calculated F value = (Machine mean square)/(Error
mean square). Sum 201.3 201.1 204.8

Mean 40.26 40.22 40.96

Use F Table with alpha as 0.05 and degrees of
freedom as 12 and 2. The Tabled F value can also be
obtained from Excel using the following function: Table III: Final ANOVA.
SOS DOF MEAN Square F Value
Tabled F value = FINV(0.05, Machine DOF, Error
DOF). Machine 1.732 2 0.866 6.1418

Error 1.692 12 0.141

Calculate the F value as above.
TOTAL 3.424 14
If the Tabled F value is more than the calculated value
we fail to reject the hypothesis of equality of the means.
If the table value is less than the calculated value we reject • If the calculated F value is not less than the F tabular
the hypothesis of equality of the means. Table III is the value, reject the hypothesis of equality of the means.
final ANOVA table.
Because the calculated F value is 6.1418 and the value REFERENCES
obtained from F Table with 2 and 12 degrees of freedom 1. Hicks, Charles Robert and Turner, Kenneth V., Jr., Fundamen-
is 3.8853, which is less, we reject the hypothesis. tal Concepts in the Design of Experiments, New York: Oxford,
58-64, 507-520, 1999.
CONCLUSIONS 2. Table of F-Statistics P=0.05, http://www.statsoft.com/text-
The problem presented in this paper clearly shows how book/sttable.html.
ANOVA can be helpful in solving various statistical prob- 3. Gelman, Andrew, Analysis of Variance—Why It Is More Impor-
lems. The following should be kept in mind while using tant Than Ever, Columbia University, 2005. JVT
ANOVA:
• If you obtain a negative value when calculating quanti- ARTICLE ACRONYM LISTING
ties in ANOVA, which should be positive such as the ANOVA Analysis of Variance
SOS, Mean square or F, check your work DOF Degrees of Freedom
• Be sure to read the recommended references in this MSOS Machine Sum of Squares
paper before attempting an ANOVA to be sure your SOS Sum of Squares
data meet the assumptions (normality, variance homo-
geneity, independence, balance) of ANOVA
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