Comparing different ANOVA and Levene Tests
NOVA Parks and Recreation in a Global Pandemic
Scenario:
You oversee several parks and outdoor recreation facilities in the NOVA area. An unexpected global pandemic has recently occurred, imposing travel restrictions and physical distancing measures that impact the outdoor recreation community. You would like to better understand the impact this pandemic has on NOVA residents’ outdoor recreational behaviors so that you can adjust your park and recreation facility offerings to meet these new demands.
NOVA is a unique and diverse area and has residents living in urban areas (>50,000 persons), urban clusters (2,500-50,000 persons), and rural area (all other persons) settings. You believe that the pandemic has affected residents of each residential area differently. You would like to compare the following behaviors among the three residential groups: days per week participating in an outdoor recreational activity, the typical group size of outdoor activity participation, and distance traveled to participate in outdoor recreational activity. Your findings will help you make recommendations for these facilities' operations and activities.
- Use your data to examine differences in the 3 different dependent variables. Be sure you examine all differences and clearly explain which groups differ.
- Supporting evidence from the ANOVA tests should include but is not limited to: descriptive data, ANOVA outputs, effect sizes, post-hoc test, and an explanation of what the results mean.
Consider the following:
1. Do the three residential groups of NOVA differ in their new outdoor recreation behavior in any of the 3 areas (i.e., 3 DVs).
A one-way ANOVA was tested to compare the average of days per week participating in an outdoor recreational activity, the typical group size of outdoor activity participation, and distance traveled to participate in outdoor recreational activity. The results indicate that the average value of days per week and distance traveled are not equal for the three groups while group size is equal.
2. Is the variability in the 3 DVs across the 3 residential groups similar? What does this mean about these groups?
The Levene’s test can be used to test whether the variability is the same across the three groups for the three dependent variables. Results indicate that the variability is the same for the three dependent variables across the three groups.
3. Do your findings suggest that you should alter the management of your facilities amidst the pandemic?
The results from the one-way ANOVA indicate that days per week and distance traveled are not equal for the three groups. The distance traveled by those in the rural and urban clusters is much higher compared to those who live in urban areas. Similarly, the days per week participating in the outdoor activity are much higher for rural people and urban cluster people compared to urban people. More focus should be made to involve urban people in outdoor activities more frequently. Distance traveled for outdoor activities for people in the rural and urban clusters could be reduced by adding more places for outdoor activities.