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AAT Bioquest

What are the examples of using ANOVA?

Posted May 19, 2022


Answer

As an analyst, you can use ANOVA to test various hypotheses. Here are some examples of using ANOVA in different fields. 

  • Biology: Two-way ANOVA is used to determine the impact of watering frequency (daily, biweekly, weekly) and different levels of sunlight exposure (from no sun to high sun) impact plant growth. This information gives biologists a better understanding of what watering frequency and/or level of sunlight exposure results in optimum plant growth. 
  • Medicine: Researchers use ANOVA to study the impact of different medications on specific symptoms. For example, researchers can study if different medications cause patients’ mean blood pressure or sugar levels to spike or drop in different ways. 
  • Agriculture: Crop researchers use the one-way ANOVA test to compare the effect of different fertilizers on crop yield. After applying each fertilizer to a specific number of fields, the total yield is calculated after harvesting. A one-way ANOVA, inputting ‘type of fertilizer’ as the factor and ‘crop yield’ as the response, indicates which fertilizer produced the highest mean yield. 
  • Marketing: A one-way ANOVA with ‘type of advertisement’ as the factor and ‘sales’ as the response variable can be used to analyze the impact of different types of advertisements on average sales. 
  • Manufacturing: R&D researchers can use ANOVA to test two different processes used to manufacture the same product to determine if one process is more cost efficient than the other. Or to determine if one process is more energy-efficient than the other. 
Additional resources

Correct use of repeated measures analysis of variance

ANOVA Calculator