F ratio

(symbol: F) in an analysis of variance or a multivariate analysis of variance, the amount of explained variance divided by the amount of the error variance; that is, the ratio of between-groups variance to within-group variance. Its value determines whether to accept the null hypothesis stating that there is no difference between the treatment and control conditions, with a large value indicating the presence of a significant effect. Ideally, a researcher prefers to have rather small variation within each group and maximal variation between the groups in order to demonstrate significant group differences. Also called F statistic; F value.

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Psychology term of the day

November 24th 2024

Cattell’s personality trait theory

an approach to personality description based on the identification of traits through factor analysis and their classification into surface traits and the 16 source traits that underlie them. [Raymond B. Cattell]