Cross-tab analysis is used to evaluate if categorical variables are associated. This tool is also known as chi-square or contingency table analysis
The data are from a sample of 580 newspaper readers that indicated (1) which newspaper they read most frequently (USA today or Wall Street Journal) and (2) their level of income (Low income vs. High income). The data has three variables: A respondent identifier (id), respondent income (High or Low), and the primary newspaper the respondent reads (USA today or Wall Street Journal).
We will examine if there is a relationship between income level and choice of newspaper. In particular, we test the following null and alternative hypotheses:
If the null-hypothesis is rejected we can investigate which cell(s) contribute to the hypothesized association. In Radiant (Basics > Cross-tab) choose Income as the first factor and Newspaper as the second factor. First, compare the observed and expected frequencies. The expected frequencies are calculated using H0 (i.e., no association) as (Row total x Column Total) / Overall Total.
The (Pearson) chi-squared test evaluates if we can reject the
null-hypothesis that the two variables are independent. It does so by
comparing the observed frequencies (i.e., what we actually see in the
data) to the expected frequencies (i.e., what we would expect to see if
the two variables were independent). If there are big differences
between the table of expected and observed frequencies the chi-square
value will be large. The chi-square value for each cell is
calculated as (o - e)^2 / e
, where o
is the
observed frequency in a cell and e
is the expected
frequency in that cell if the null hypothesis holds. These values can be
shown by clicking the Chi-squared
check box. The overall
chi-square value is obtained by summing across all cells, i.e., it is
the sum of the values shown in the Contribution to chi-square
table.
In order to determine if the chi-square value can be considered large we first determine the degrees of freedom (df). In particular: df = (# rows - 1) x (# columns - 1). In a 2x2 table, we have (2-1) x (2-1) = 1 df. The output in the Summary tab shows the value of the chi-square statistic, the associated df, and the p.value associated with the test. We also see the contribution from each cells to the overall chi-square statistic.
Remember to check the expected values: All expected frequencies are larger than 5 therefore the p.value for the chi-square statistic is unlikely to be biased. As usual we reject the null-hypothesis when the p.value is smaller 0.05. Since our p.value is very small (< .001) we can reject the null-hypothesis (i.e., the data suggest there is an association between newspaper readership and income).
We can use the provided p.value associated with the Chi-squared value
of 187.783 to evaluate the null hypothesis. However, we can also
calculate the critical Chi-squared value using the probability
calculator. As we can see from the output below that value is 3.841 if
we choose a 95% confidence level. Because the calculated Chi-square
value is larger than the critical value (187.783 > 3.841) we reject
null hypothesis that Income
and Newspaper
are
independent.
We can also use the probability calculator to determine the p.value
associated with the calculated Chi-square value. Consistent with the
output from the Cross-tabs > Summary tab this
p.value
is < .001
.
In addition to the numerical output provided in the Summary tab we can evaluate the hypothesis visually (see the Plot tab). We choose the same variables as before. However, we will plot the standardized deviations. This measure is calculated as (o-e)/sqrt(e), i.e., a score of how different the observed and expected frequencies in one cell in our table are. When a cell’s standardized deviation is greater than 1.96 (in absolute value) the cell has a significant deviation from the model of independence (or no association).
In the plot we see that all cells contribute to the association between income and readership as all standardized deviations are larger than 1.96 in absolute value (i.e., the bars extend beyond the outer dotted line in the plot).
In other words, there seem to be fewer low income respondents that read WSJ and more high income respondents that read WSJ than would be expected if the null hypothesis of no-association were true. Furthermore, there are more low income respondents that read USA today and fewer high income respondents that read USA Today than would be expected if the null hypothesis of no-association were true.
Add code to
Report
> Rmd to (re)create the analysis by clicking the
icon on the bottom
left of your screen or by pressing ALT-enter
on your
keyboard.
If a plot was created it can be customized using ggplot2
commands (e.g.,
plot(result, check = "observed", custom = TRUE) + labs(y = "Percentage")
).
See
Data
> Visualize for details.
When one or more expected values are small (e.g., 5 or less) the p.value for the Chi-squared test is calculated using simulation methods. If some cells have an expected count below 1 it may be necessary to collapse rows and/or columns.
For an overview of related R-functions used by Radiant to evaluate associations between categorical variables see Basics > Tables
The key function from the stats
package used in the
cross_tabs
tool is chisq.test
.
Copy-and-paste the full command below into the RStudio console (i.e., the bottom-left window) and press return to gain access to all materials used in the hypothesis testing module of the Radiant Tutorial Series:
usethis::use_course("https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0xvhyolgcvox685/AADSppNSIocrJS-BqZXhD1Kna?dl=1")