Reading your Results Report - Chi Square
Interpreting the results of the Chi Square function
The results report for your chi square analysis contains several pieces of information to help you interpret your results. These are not discussed at length here, but you are encouraged to consult a statistics textbook or the Internet to learn more!
The EZAnalyze chi square analysis produces a chi square table, chi squared value, and a significance level (P) telling you if the observed frequencies were significantly different than the expected frequencies. If your chi squared value is statistically significant, it is important to look at the actual cells of the chi square table to accurately interpret the results. The number of cells in your table depends on how many levels the variables you chose for analysis had. For example, if you were looking at gender with two levels (male, female) and occupation with three levels (nurse, firefighter, police officer), your chi square table would have 6 cells.
Each cell in the chi square table tells you what your observed value was (the frequency of occurance from your data) and what the expected value is (the value you would expect to get if there were no differences between the groups). Cells where the observed value are most different from the expected value are where the groups differed, and were the largest contributors. You can get a "hint" of where to look first by looking at the numbers above the "Chi square total" number in the lower right side of your chi square table. These numbers are the "partial chi square" results from the rows, allowing you to see which row contributed the most to the total chi square value.
At the bottom of your chi square table, there is a statement "in English" telling you what your chi square value is, and whether or not it is statistically significant.