Which statistical test is used to determine if a relationship exists between two categorical variables 1 point?

The Chi-square test of independence determines whether there is a statistically significant relationship between categorical variables. It is a hypothesis test that answers the question—do the values of one categorical variable depend on the value of other categorical variables? This test is also known as the chi-square test of association.

In this post, I’ll show you how the Chi-square test of independence works. Then, I’ll show you how to perform the analysis and interpret the results by working through the example. I’ll use this test to determine whether wearing the dreaded red shirt in Star Trek is the kiss of death!

If you need a primer on the basics, read my hypothesis testing overview.

Overview of the Chi-Square Test of Independence

The Chi-square test of association evaluates relationships between categorical variables. Like any statistical hypothesis test, the Chi-square test has both a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis.

• Null hypothesis: There are no relationships between the categorical variables. If you know the value of one variable, it does not help you predict the value of another variable.
• Alternative hypothesis: There are relationships between the categorical variables. Knowing the value of one variable does help you predict the value of another variable.

The Chi-square test of association works by comparing the distribution that you observe to the distribution that you expect if there is no relationship between the categorical variables. In the Chi-square context, the word “expected” is equivalent to what you’d expect if the null hypothesis is true. If your observed distribution is sufficiently different than the expected distribution (no relationship), you can reject the null hypothesis and infer that the variables are related.

For a Chi-square test, a p-value that is less than or equal to your significance level indicates there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the observed distribution is not the same as the expected distribution. You can conclude that a relationship exists between the categorical variables.

Star Trek Fatalities by Uniform Colors

We’ll perform a Chi-square test of independence to determine whether there is a statistically significant association between shirt color and deaths. We need to use this test because these variables are both categorical variables. Shirt color can be only blue, gold, or red. Fatalities can be only dead or alive.

The color of the uniform represents each crewmember’s work area. We will statistically assess whether there is a connection between uniform color and the fatality rate. Believe it or not, there are “real” data about the crew from authoritative sources and the show portrayed the deaths onscreen. The table below shows how many crewmembers are in each area and how many have died.

Tip: Because the chi-square test of association assesses the relationship between categorical variables, bar charts are a great way to graph the data. Use clustering or stacking to compare subgroups within the categories.

Related post: Bar Charts: Using, Examples, and Interpreting

Performing the Chi-Square Test of Independence for Uniform Color and Fatalities

For our example, we will determine whether the observed counts of deaths by uniform color are different from the distribution that we’d expect if there is no association between the two variables.

The table below shows how I’ve entered the data into the worksheet. You can also download the CSV dataset for StarTrekFatalities.

You can use the dataset to perform the analysis in your preferred statistical software. The Chi-squared test of independence results are below. As an aside, I use this example in my post about degrees of freedom in statistics. Learn why there are two degrees of freedom for the table below.

In our statistical results, both p-values are less than 0.05. We can reject the null hypothesis and conclude there is a relationship between shirt color and deaths. The next step is to define that relationship.

Describing the relationship between categorical variables involves comparing the observed count to the expected count in each cell of the Dead column. I’ve annotated this comparison in the statistical output above.

Statisticians refer to this type of table as a contingency table. To learn more about them and how to use them to calculate probabilities, read my post Using Contingency Tables to Calculate Probabilities.

Related post: Chi-Square Table

Graphical Results for the Chi-Square Test of Association

Additionally, you can use bar charts to graph each cell’s contribution to the Chi-square statistic, which is below.

Surprise! It’s the blue and gold uniforms that contribute the most to the Chi-square statistic and produce the statistical significance! Red shirts add almost nothing. In the statistical output, the comparison of observed counts to expected counts shows that blue shirts die less frequently than expected, gold shirts die more often than expected, and red shirts die at the expected rate.

The graph below reiterates these conclusions by displaying fatality percentages by uniform color along with the overall death rate.

The Chi-square test indicates that red shirts don’t die more frequently than expected. Hold on. There’s more to this story!

Time for a bonus lesson and a bonus analysis in this blog post!

2 Proportions test to compare Security Red-Shirts to Non-Security Red-Shirts

The bonus lesson is that it is vital to include the genuinely pertinent variables in the analysis. Perhaps the color of the shirt is not the critical variable but rather the crewmember’s work area. Crewmembers in Security, Engineering, and Operations all wear red shirts. Maybe only security guards have a higher death rate?

We can test this theory using the 2 Proportions test. We’ll compare the fatality rates of red-shirts in security to red-shirts who are not in security.

The summary data are below. In the table, the events represent the counts of deaths, while the trials are the number of personnel.

The p-value of 0.000 signifies that the difference between the two proportions is statistically significant. Security has a mortality rate of 20% while the other red-shirts are only at 4%.

Security officers have the highest mortality rate on the ship, closely followed by the gold-shirts. Red-shirts that are not in security have a fatality rate similar to the blue-shirts.

As it turns out, it’s not the color of the shirt that affects fatality rates; it’s the duty area. That makes more sense.

Risk by Work Area Summary

The Chi-square test of independence and the 2 Proportions test both indicate that the death rate varies by work area on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Doctors, scientists, engineers, and those in ship operations are the safest with about a 5% fatality rate. Crewmembers that are in command or security have death rates that exceed 15%!