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I collected data on one sample, the DV could be separated into two groups (success yes vs. no) and then I have several IVs with interval scale. I just don't know if to use Wilcoxon or Man-Whitney test. Also I don't know if it's necessary to use Bonferroni correction or if that is just important for parametric tests.

mdewey
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Jennifer
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  • What do you want to test? What is your hypothesis? – Baumann Feb 18 '14 at 14:42
  • @Baumann my original plan was to run a logistic regression and identify those variables that are best to predict the criteria. that didn't work for several reasons - my plan now is to do this by using correlation and/or parametric-tests. does that make sense? – Jennifer Feb 18 '14 at 19:27

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IMHO @Giorgio's anwser is not correct since there are two Wilcoxon tests (namely, Wilcoxon Rank-Sum and Wilcoxon Signed Rank).

It might be useful to remember that Mann-Whitney test is also called Wilcoxon rank-sum test. And therefore, there is no difference in applying Mann-Whitney or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. You should get the same result.

As I already wrote here, people do sometimes make a mistake in replacing Mann-Whitney with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The difference comes from the assumptions. In the Mann-Whitney test you are interested in the difference between two independent populations (null hypothesis: the same, alternative: there is a difference) while in the Wilcoxon signed-rank test you are interested in testing the same hypothesis but with paired/matched samples.

For example, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test would be used if you had replicates (repeated) measurements between different time points/plates/... since it is the same sample but measured in different time/on different plates.

As for the Bonferroni correction, the answer to this question highly depends on your setting. If you are going to torture your data until it confesses I would advise that you use a correction technique (like Bonferroni/FDR/Holm-Bonferroni/...) to protect yourself from false judgement. Regardless of the choice between parametric and non-parametric tests.

Community
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iugrina
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From https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/psychology/labs/spss/Mann-Whitney_U_and_Wilcoxon:

The difference between the Mann-Whitney U and the Wilcoxon tests relates to the design of the >experiment. If your experiment has a repeated measures or matched participants design then >the Wilcoxon test is used to analyse your data. If your experiment has an independent >measures design then the Mann-Whitney U test is used to analyse your data.

Giorgio Spedicato
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