The alternative parameter
What it does
Alternative hypothesis for two-sample/one-sample tests and correlations: "two-sided", "greater" or "less"; 1 and -1 (number or text) mean greater and less.
Case and spaces around do not matter ("Greater", " less "). Another value is an error: alternative must be two-sided, greater or less (or 1, -1), got "grater". Empty — the default from Settings.
A one-sided hypothesis gives a one-sided interval: [lower, ∞) for greater, (−∞, upper] for less (for correlations [lower, 1] and [−1, upper]).
Values
Optional; default "two-sided".
Allowed values: "two-sided", "greater", "less"
In plain words
A coach tried a new warm-up with 12 players, and their time on a long run went down by 3 seconds on average. With the setting two-sided, which asks whether the times changed in either direction, the drop could easily be luck. With less, which asks only whether the times went down, the same drop was hard to put down to chance alone. So the one-way question is easier to pass, and that is why he must choose it before he looks at the times. Picking it afterwards would not be fair. The setting greater asks the same one-way question about going up.
Where you use it
STATS_PEARSON— Pearson correlation (r).STATS_SPEARMAN— Spearman rank correlation (rho): the correlation for rating scales, ranks and skewed data — does one go up as the other goes up?STATS_KENDALL— Kendall rank correlation (tau-b): the correlation of the order of two columns — for small samples and scales with many tied answers.STATS_PARTIAL— Partial correlation: the Pearson correlation of two variables with the controls held constant (SPSS PARTIAL CORR). Two variables give one correlation, three or more a matrix, as STATS_PEARSON.STATS_PAIRED— Paired-samples t-test for two related measurements (e.g., pre vs post).STATS_WILCOXON— Wilcoxon signed-rank test for two related measurements of the same rows (before / after) — the rank replacement for STATS_PAIRED when the differences are not normal.STATS_INDEPENDENT— Independent-samples t-test for two groups: the two selected columns are the groups.STATS_MANN_WHITNEY— Mann–Whitney U test for two independent samples — the rank replacement for STATS_INDEPENDENT when the data are not normal (see STATS_NORMALITY), are ranks or rating scales (1–5), or have outliers.STATS_ONE_SAMPLE— One-sample t-test against mu0.
Examples
"two-sided""greater""less"
Get it in your sheet
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