difference in means between two numerical variables

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claudiaest
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:04 pm

difference in means between two numerical variables

Post by claudiaest »

Hi there!

Ok, so I have two variables: "age" and "happiness". Happiness is measured on a 1-10 scale (1 being "very unhappy" and 10 being "completely happy"). I want to run a test that tells me what age groups reports a greater happiness level, but I'm a bit lost. I have run an ANOVA test where "happiness" is the dependent variable and "age" is the fixed factor. P-value is 0.004, so I know that it's statically significant. But I don't know what to do beyond that.
I have tried running a post-hoc test, but it just compares the different ages, when what I want is to compare people's ages with their level of happiness.

Any help will be much appreciated !! :)
Thank you x
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jonathon
Posts: 2613
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:04 am

Re: difference in means between two numerical variables

Post by jonathon »

probably a good starting point is just descriptives. specify "happiness" in "Variables", and "age" in "Split by", then i'd use either histograms and/or boxplots to visualise this. this will give you a quick overview, and a sense of whether ANOVA is appropriate.

returning to your ANOVA, assign "happiness" under "Estimated Marginal Means", and it will provide you with a plot according to the ANOVA model you have specified.

kind regards

jonathon
claudiaest
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:04 pm

Re: difference in means between two numerical variables

Post by claudiaest »

This was really helpful, thank you! x
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