The post is about the Chi Square Goodness of Fit Test.
Table of Contents
Application of $\chi^2$distribution is the test of goodness of fit. It is possible to test the hypothesis that a population has a specified theoretical distribution using the $\chi^2$ distribution. The theoretical distribution may be Normal, Binomial, Poisson, or any other distribution.
The Chi-Square Goodness of Fit Test enables us to check whether there is a significant difference between an observed frequency distribution and a theoretical frequency distribution (expected frequency distribution) based on some theoretical models, that is (how well it fits the distribution of data we have observed). A goodness of fit test between observed and expected frequencies is based upon
[\chi^2 = \sum\limits_{i=1}^k \left[ \frac{(OF_i – EF_i)^2}{EF_i} \right] ]
where $OF_i$ represents the observed and $EF_i$ the expected frequencies. for the $i$th class and $k$ is the number of possible outcomes or the number of different classes.
Degrees of Freedom (Chi Square Goodness of Fit Test)
It is important to note that
- The computed $\chi^2$ value will be small if the observed frequencies are close to the corresponding expected frequencies indicating a good fit.
- The computed $\chi^2$ value will be large, if observed and expected frequencies have a great deal of difference, indicating a poor fit.
- A good fit leads to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that the sample distribution agrees with the hypothetical or theoretical distribution.
- A bad fit leads to the rejection of the null hypothesis.
Critical Region (Chi Square Goodness of Fit Test)
The critical region under the $\chi^2$ curve will fall in the right tail of the distribution. We find the critical value of $\chi^2_{\alpha}$ from the table for a specified level of significance $\alpha$ and $v$ degrees of freedom.
Decision
If the computed $\chi^2$ value is greater than the critical $\chi^2_{\alpha}$ the null hypothesis will be rejected. Thus $\chi^2> \chi^2_{\alpha}$ constitutes the critical region.
Some Requirements
The Chi Square Goodness of fit test should not be applied unless each of the expected frequencies is at least equal to 5. When there are smaller expected frequencies in several, these should be combined (merged). The total number of frequencies should not be less than fifty.
Note that we must look with suspicion upon circumstances where $\chi^2$ is too close to zero since it is rare that observed frequencies agree well with expected frequencies. To examine such situations, we can determine whether the computed value of $\chi^2$ is less than $\chi^2_{0.95}$ to decide that the agreement is too good at the 0.05 level of significance.
