chi-square test

any of various procedures that use a chi-square distribution to evaluate how well a theory fits a set of observed data. Unless otherwise specified, this term usually refers to the chi-square test for independence, used to determine whether there is a relationship between two variables whose values are categories. For example, it may be used to test whether sex (male vs. female) is unrelated to having a household pet (yes vs. no). It compares observed data to the data that would be expected in each cell of a contingency table if the two variables were entirely independent. This discrepancy between observed and expected counts is then used to compute the chi-square statistic. Also called chi-square procedure.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

March 13th 2025

verbal abuse

extremely critical, threatening, or insulting words delivered in oral or written form and intended to demean, belittle, or frighten the recipient.