I have a data with discrete values and need to find if it is normally distributed. I plotted the graph and it looks normal and then I performed shapiro wilk test where the result were W = 0.78773, p-value < 2.2e-16, through which I concluded data is not normal. I just need guidance if I should be performing any more tests to find if the data is normally distributed, also I believe discrete values data can never be normal, is my understanding correct?
Asked
Active
Viewed 83 times
0
kjetil b halvorsen
- 63,378
- 26
- 142
- 467
user310287
- 21
- 2
-
It means that you have an extremely small p-value, and you interpret that result as you would any other p-value, given your null hypothesis that the values were drawn from a normal population and an alternative that they were drawn from a non-normal population. Cross Validated, however, mostly opposes such distribution fit testing, preferring visual examination through histograms, quantile-quantile plots, and kernel density estimates (KDE). Why are you testing the normality? – Dave Feb 04 '21 at 04:20
-
Thank you! It is for my assignment, I plotted quantile quantile plot and I get a horizontal line so not sure how to interpret that. I believe all these test suggest data is not normally distributed. – user310287 Feb 04 '21 at 05:31
-
You say *discrete values* How many distintc values? Can you show us your data? Note that a discrete distribution cannot be normal! – kjetil b halvorsen Feb 04 '21 at 12:40
-
Please add the [tag:self-study] tag & read its [wiki](https://stats.stackexchange.com/tags/self-study/info). Then tell us what you understand thus far, what you've tried & where you're stuck. We'll provide hints to help you get unstuck. Please make these changes as just posting your homework & hoping someone will do it for you is grounds for closing. – kjetil b halvorsen Feb 04 '21 at 12:41