The spelling of the word "chi square" may seem a bit unusual to some, but it can be explained with the help of IPA phonetic transcription. The first word, "chi", is spelled with a /k/ sound followed by a /aɪ/ as in "eye" sound, which creates the /kaɪ/ sound for "chi." The second word, "square," is spelled with a /sk/ sound followed by a diphthong of /w/ and /ɛr/, which gives us the /skwɛr/ sound for "square." So "chi-square" is the combination of these two sounds.
A chi-square is a statistical test that assesses the significance of the difference between expected and observed frequencies in categorical data. It is used to determine if there is a relationship between two categorical variables or if an observed distribution differs significantly from an expected distribution.
The chi-square test calculates a test statistic, denoted as χ² (chi-square), by comparing the observed frequencies in each category with the expected frequencies. The expected frequencies are obtained from a theoretical distribution or based on previous data or assumptions. The chi-square statistic is then compared to a critical value from the chi-square distribution with degrees of freedom corresponding to the number of categories minus one.
The null hypothesis assumes that there is no association or difference between the variables, while the alternative hypothesis suggests the presence of a relationship or difference. If the calculated chi-square statistic exceeds the critical value, the null hypothesis is rejected, indicating a statistically significant relationship. Conversely, if the calculated chi-square statistic does not exceed the critical value, the null hypothesis is not rejected, suggesting no significant association.
The chi-square test is commonly used in various fields of research such as social sciences, biology, and market research. It allows researchers to evaluate the independence of categorical variables, identify patterns or differences in categorical data, and make informed decisions based on statistical evidence.
The word "chi" in "chi-square" is derived from the Ancient Greek letter "χ" (chi), which is the statistical symbol used to represent a random variable that follows the chi-square distribution. The term "chi-square" was introduced by the English statistician Karl Pearson in the late 19th century when he developed the chi-square test, which is used to determine whether there is a significant association between categorical variables. The test involves calculating the sum of squared differences between observed and expected frequencies, which follows the chi-square distribution. Hence, the name "chi-square" was given to describe this statistical test and its associated distribution.