Summarizing multiple ANOVA results

[ajmoralesa]

Hi,

I was wondering if you think it could be feasible to implement a function that summarizes multiple ANOVA results using symbols ( >, <, ≥, ≤ ). This could be convenient when describing multiple results (i.e. when multiple main or interaction effects are not significant) and we want to keep it as short and precise as possible.

For instance, from the following ANOVA example:

require(ez)
data(ANT)

rt_anova = ezANOVA(
  data = ANT[ANT$error==0,]
  , dv = rt
  , wid = subnum
  , within = .(cue,flank)
  , between = group
)
rt_anova

> rt_anova
$ANOVA
           Effect DFn DFd           F            p p<.05        ges
2           group   1  18   18.430592 4.377562e-04     * 0.07633358
3             cue   3  54  516.605213 1.005518e-39     * 0.89662286
5           flank   2  36 1350.598810 1.386546e-34     * 0.92710583
4       group:cue   3  54    2.553236 6.497492e-02       0.04110445
6     group:flank   2  36    8.768499 7.900829e-04     * 0.07627434
7       cue:flank   6 108    5.193357 9.938494e-05     * 0.11436699
8 group:cue:flank   6 108    6.377225 9.012515e-06     * 0.13686958

$`Mauchly's Test for Sphericity`
           Effect         W         p p<.05
3             cue 0.7828347 0.5366835      
4       group:cue 0.7828347 0.5366835      
5           flank 0.8812738 0.3415406      
6     group:flank 0.8812738 0.3415406      
7       cue:flank 0.1737053 0.1254796      
8 group:cue:flank 0.1737053 0.1254796      

$`Sphericity Corrections`
           Effect       GGe        p[GG] p[GG]<.05       HFe        p[HF] p[HF]<.05
3             cue 0.8652559 1.115029e-34         * 1.0239520 1.005518e-39         *
4       group:cue 0.8652559 7.472046e-02           1.0239520 6.497492e-02          
5           flank 0.8938738 3.763312e-31         * 0.9858964 3.964046e-34         *
6     group:flank 0.8938738 1.297752e-03         * 0.9858964 8.438369e-04         *
7       cue:flank 0.6022111 1.546166e-03         * 0.7721473 4.745714e-04         *
8 group:cue:flank 0.6022111 3.424499e-04         * 0.7721473 7.170939e-05         *

We could describe results in a .Rmd document as follows:

There were main effects of group ( r describe.ezanova(rt_anova, 'group')), cue ( r describe.ezanova(rt_anova, 'cue')) and flank ( r describe.ezanova(rt_anova, 'flank'))...

or it could sometimes be preferred to say:

Main effects of group, cue and flank were observed ( r here we would have summarised ANOVA F, P and ES statistics from all three)

[achetverikov]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "using symbols". Right now you could do something like this:
paste_and(describe.ezanova(rt_anova, c('group','cue','flank')))

If that's not what you want, could you give an example of the expected results?

[ajmoralesa]

What I mean is providing an only F, p and ges values summarizing the effects selected and indicating only the greatest F and ges and lowest p values observed. For example:

the_function_I_mean(describe.ezanova(rt_anova, c('group','cue','flank')))
[1] "_F_ ≤ 1350.60, _p_ ≥ .001, $\\eta$^2^~G~ ≤ .08" # Manually edited. Not necessarily correct

This may be useful in cases where we need to summarize many ANOVA effects that for instance, are not significant. Not sure if it makes sense? Please, let me know if anything needs clarifying.

[achetverikov]

I think I see what you mean. I don't think it's the best way to report the results, but I can see where it comes in handy. Unfortunately, it would require some work, and my hands are full right now, but maybe someone else would make a commit. I would only suggest avoiding F in such summaries because it doesn't make sense without df.