are their ties or no ties (independence)?

Does your rank ordered data have ties?

The question before you at this point is:

“Are there ties among the rank ordered data I’m working with or not?”

The question before you at this point is:

“Are there ties among the rank ordered data I’m working with or not?”

Your options of course are:

Your options of course are:

There are NO TIES

There are TIES

Let’s consider an example:

You have been asked to determine if gender and spelling bee competition rankings are independent of one another.

You have been asked to determine if gender and spelling bee competition rankings are independent of one another.

Spelling Bee Participants

Gender Spelling Bee Rank

A 1 6th

B 2 6th

C 2 4th

D 2 2nd

E 1 7th

F 1 1st

G 2 3rd

You have been asked to determine if gender and spelling bee competition rankings are independent of one another.

Spelling Bee Participants

Gender Spelling Bee Rank

A 1 6th

B 2 6th

C 2 4th

D 2 2nd

E 1 7th

F 1 1st

G 2 3rd

Notice that these two

spelling bee participants have a tied

ranking

When the rankings are tied you will use a statistical method called Kendall’s Tau.

When the rankings are tied you will use a statistical method called Kendall’s Tau.

Spelling Bee Rank

6th

6th

4th

When the rankings are tied you will use a statistical method called Kendall’s Tau.

When the rankings are not tied you will use a statistical method called Spearman’s Rho.

Spelling Bee Rank

6th

5th

4th

Spelling Bee Rank

6th

6th

4th

Which option would be most appropriate for the data set you are working with:

There are NO TIES

There are TIES