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meanEffectSize

One-sample or two-sample effect size computations

Since R2022a

    Description

    Effect = meanEffectSize(X) computes the mean-difference effect size for a single sample X against the default mean value of 0.

    example

    Effect = meanEffectSize(X,Y) computes the mean-difference effect size for two samples X and Y.

    example

    Effect = meanEffectSize(X,Y,Name=Value) specifies options using one or more of the name-value arguments. For example, you can specify the type of the effect size to compute or the number of bootstrap replicas to use when computing the bootstrap confidence intervals.

    example

    Examples

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    Load the stock returns data and define the variable for which to compute the mean-difference effect size.

    load stockreturns
    x = stocks(:,1);

    Compute the mean-difference effect size of the stock returns compared to the default mean value of 0, and compute the 95% confidence intervals for the effect size.

    effect = meanEffectSize(x)
    effect=1×2 table
                           Effect      ConfidenceIntervals  
                          ________    ______________________
    
        MeanDifference    -0.20597    -0.41283    0.00087954
    
    

    The meanEffectSize function uses the exact method to estimate the confidence intervals when you use the mean-difference effect size.

    You can also specify the mean value you want to compare against.

    effect = meanEffectSize(x,Mean=-1)
    effect=1×2 table
                          Effect     ConfidenceIntervals
                          _______    ___________________
    
        MeanDifference    0.79403    0.58717     1.0009 
    
    

    Load Fisher's iris data and define the variables for which to compute the median-difference effect size.

    load fisheriris
    species2 = categorical(species);
    x = meas(species2=='setosa');
    y = meas(species2=='virginica');

    Compute the median-difference effect size of the observations from two independent samples.

    effect = meanEffectSize(x,y,Effect="mediandiff")
    effect=1×2 table
                            Effect    ConfidenceIntervals
                            ______    ___________________
    
        MedianDifference     -1.5        -1.8    -1.3    
    
    

    By default, the meanEffectSize function assumes that the samples are independent (that is, Paired=false). The function uses bootstrapping to estimate the confidence intervals when the effect type is median-difference.

    Visualize the median-difference effect size using the Gardner-Altman plot.

    gardnerAltmanPlot(x,y,Effect="mediandiff");

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Gardner-Altman Plot contains 5 objects of type scatter, line, errorbar. These objects represent X, Y, X Median, Y Median, Median Difference.

    The Gardner-Altman plot displays the two data samples on the left. The median of the sample Y corresponds to the zero effect size on the effect size axis, which is the yellow axis line on the right. The median of the sample X corresponds to the value of the effect size on the effect size axis. The plot displays the actual median-difference effect size value and the confidence intervals with the vertical error bar.

    Load Fisher's iris data and define the variables for which to compare the Cohen's d effect size.

    load fisheriris
    species2 = categorical(species);
    x = meas(species2=='setosa');
    y = meas(species2=='virginica');

    Compute the Cohen's d effect size for the observations from two independent samples, and compute the 95% confidence intervals for the effect size. By default,the meanEffectSize function uses the exact formula based on the noncentral t-distribution to estimate the confidence intervals when the effect size type is Cohen's d. Specify the bootstrapping options as follows:

    • Set meanEffectSize to use bootstrapping for confidence interval computation.

    • Use parallel computing for bootstrapping computations. You need Parallel Computing Toolbox™ for this option.

    • Use 3000 bootstrap replicas.

    rng(123) % For reproducibility
    effect = meanEffectSize(x,y,Effect="cohen",ConfidenceIntervalType="bootstrap", ...
          BootstrapOptions=statset(UseParallel=true),NumBootstraps=3000)
    Starting parallel pool (parpool) using the 'Processes' profile ...
    Connected to the parallel pool (number of workers: 6).
    
    effect=1×2 table
                   Effect     ConfidenceIntervals
                   _______    ___________________
    
        CohensD    -3.0536    -3.5621    -2.3468 
    
    

    Visualize the Cohen's d effect size using the Gardner-Altman plot with the same options set.

    gardnerAltmanPlot(x,y,Effect="cohen",ConfidenceIntervalType="bootstrap", ...
          BootstrapOptions=statset(UseParallel=true),NumBootstraps=3000);

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Gardner-Altman Plot contains 5 objects of type scatter, line, errorbar. These objects represent X, Y, X Mean, Y Mean, Cohen's d.

    The Gardner-Altman plot displays the two data samples on the left. The mean of the sample Y corresponds to the zero effect size on the effect size axis, which is the yellow axis line on the right. The mean of the sample X corresponds to the value of the effect size on the effect size axis. The plot displays the Cohen's d effect size value and the confidence intervals with the vertical error bar.

    Load exam grades data and define the variables to compare.

    load examgrades
    x = grades(:,1);
    y = grades(:,2);

    Compute the mean-difference effect size of the grades from the paired samples, and compute the 95% confidence intervals for the effect size.

    effect = meanEffectSize(x,y,Paired=true)
    effect=1×2 table
                           Effect     ConfidenceIntervals
                          ________    ___________________
    
        MeanDifference    0.016667    -1.3311     1.3644 
    
    

    The meanEffectSize function uses the exact method to estimate the confidence intervals when you use the mean-difference effect size.

    You can specify a different effect size type. (Note that you cannot use Glass's delta for paired samples.) Use robust Cohen's d to compare the paired sample means. Compute the 97% confidence intervals for the effect size.

    effect = meanEffectSize(x,y,Paired=true,Effect="robustcohen",Alpha=0.03)
    effect=1×2 table
                          Effect     ConfidenceIntervals
                         ________    ___________________
    
        RobustCohensD    0.059128    -0.1405    0.26573 
    
    

    The meanEffectSize function uses bootstrapping to estimate the confidence intervals when the effect size type is robust Cohen's d.

    Visualize the effect size using the Gardner-Altman plot. Specify robust Cohen's d as the effect size, and compute the 97% confidence intervals.

    gardnerAltmanPlot(x,y,Paired=true,Effect="robustcohen",Alpha=0.03);

    The Gardner-Altman plot displays the paired data on the left. The blue lines show the values that are increasing and the red lines show the values that are decreasing from the first sample to the corresponding values in the paired sample, respectively. Right side of the plot displays the robust Cohen's d effect size with the 97% confidence interval.

    Input Arguments

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    Input data, specified as a numeric vector.

    Data Types: single | double

    Input data, specified as a numeric vector.

    Data Types: single | double

    Name-Value Arguments

    Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

    Example: Effect="cliff",Alpha=0.03,ConfidenceIntervalType="bootstrap",VarianceType=unequal specifies to use the Cliff's Delta effect size, compute the 97% confidence intervals using bootstrapping, and assume the samples come from populations with unequal variances.

    Confidence level of the confidence intervals for the effect size, specified as a numeric value from 0 to 1. Default value of 0.05 corresponds to the 95% confidence level.

    Example: Alpha=0.025

    Data Types: single | double

    Options for computing bootstrap confidence intervals in parallel, specified as a structure generated by using statset("bootci"). meanEffectSize uses the following fields.

    FieldDescription
    Streams

    A RandStream object or cell array of such objects. If you do not specify Streams, meanEffectSize uses the default stream or streams. If you specify Streams, use a single object except when all of the following conditions exist:

    • You have an open parallel pool.

    • UseParallel is true.

    • UseSubstreams is false.

    In this case, use a cell array the same size as the parallel pool. If a parallel pool is not open, then Streams must supply a single random number stream.

    UseParallelThe default is false, indicating serial computation.
    UseSubstreamsSet to true to compute in a reproducible fashion. The default is false. To compute reproducibly, set Streams to a type allowing substreams: "mlfg6331_64" or "mrg32k3a".

    Computing bootstrap confidence intervals in parallel requires Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

    Example: BootstrapOptions=options

    Data Types: struct

    Type of confidence interval to compute, specified as "exact", "bootstrap", or "none". The default value is "exact" when there is an exact formula for the effect size or "bootstrap" otherwise. Specify "none" is when you do not want to compute any confidence intervals.

    The default value is "exact" for Cliff's Delta, Glass's delta, mean-difference, and Cohen's d and "bootstrap" for Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, median-difference, and robust Cohen's d. If you specify confidence interval type as "exact" for Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, median-difference, and robust Cohen's d, meanEffectSize returns an error.

    Example: ConfidenceIntervalType="none"

    Data Types: string | char

    Effect size type to compute, specified as one of or a cell array of the following built-in options.

    Options for single-sample input

    Effect size optionDefinition
    "cohen"Cohen's d for single-sample input.
    "meandiff"Mean difference.
    "robustcohen"Robust Cohen's d for single-sample input.

    Options for two-sample input

    OptionDefinition
    "cohen"Cohen's d for two-sample input
    "cliff"Cliff's Delta
    "glass"

    Glass's delta; not supported by meanEffectSize for paired data

    "kstest"Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic
    "mediandiff"Median difference
    "meandiff"Mean difference
    "robustcohen"Robust Cohen's d for two-sample input

    For more information on the effect sizes, see Algorithms.

    Example: Effect="glass"

    Data Types: string | char | cell

    Known population mean value to compare against, specified as a scalar value. This option is only for single-sample data.

    Example: Mean=10

    Data Types: single | double

    Number of bootstrap replicas to use when computing the bootstrap confidence intervals, specified as a positive integer.

    Example: NumBootstraps=1500

    Data Types: single | double

    Indicator for paired samples, specified as false or true.

    • If Paired is true, then VarianceType must be "equal".

    • If Paired is true, then Effect cannot be "glass".

    Example: Paired=true

    Data Types: logical

    Population variance assumption for two samples, specified as "equal" or "unequal". If Paired is "true", then VarianceType must be "equal".

    Example: VarianceType="unequal"

    Data Types: string | char

    Output Arguments

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    Effect size information, returned as a table. Effect has a row for each effect size computed and a column for the value of the effect size, and a column for the confidence intervals for that effect size, if they are computed.

    Data Types: table

    Algorithms

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    Effect Size

    • Cliff's Delta

      • Unpaired data

        δ=i,j=1n1,n2(xi>yj)(xi<yj)n1*n2,

        where n1 is the size of the first sample, and n2 is the size of the second sample.

      • Paired data

        meanEffectSize uses the between-group delta, which compares the differences between x and y, but excludes comparisons of paired data. For n paired samples, the result is n(n–1) comparisons [3].

    • Cohen's d

      meanEffectSize computes the unbiased estimate of Cohen's d, which is also known as Hedge's g.

      • One-sample

        d=J(df)*(x¯μ)s

      • Two-sample

        d=J(df)*(x¯y¯)s

      where df is the degrees of freedom, μ is the known population mean to compare against, s is the pooled standard deviation, and J(df) is the bias correction term. The pooled standard deviation is defined as

      s=(n11)s12+(n21)s22n1+n22,

      where n1 is the size of the first sample and n2 is the size of the second sample.

      The bias correction term are defined as

      J(df)=Γ(df/2)df/2Γ((df1)/2),

      where Γ() is the gamma function.

      Cohen's d follows a noncentral t-distribution and uses it to derive the confidence intervals. So, by default, meanEffectSize uses "exact" to compute the confidence intervals for the effect size. See [1] and [4] to see the derivation of the confidence intervals for paired versus unpaired input data.

    • Glass's Delta

      D=x¯y¯sx,

      where sx is the standard deviation of the control group. meanEffectSize uses the data in x as the control group. If you wish to use the other sample as the control group, you can swap the data in x and y and swap the sign of the test result.

      Similar to Cohen's d, Glass's delta also follows a noncentral t-distribution and uses it to derive the confidence intervals. So, by default, meanEffectSize uses "exact" to compute the confidence intervals for the effect size [4]. You cannot use this effect size for paired samples.

    • Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Statistic

      This two-sample test statistic is the same as given in Two-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. meanEffectSize uses bootstrapping to compute the confidence intervals.

    • Mean Difference

      • One-sample

        m=(x¯μ)

      • Two-sample

        m=(x¯y¯)

      meanEffectSize computes the confidence intervals using the t-distribution with pooled standard deviation in the two-sample case. (In the case of unequal variance assumption for two samples, the confidence intervals are called Welch-Satterthwaite confidence intervals). By default, the function uses "exact" to compute the confidence intervals for the effect size.

    • Median Difference

      M = median(x)median(y)

      meanEffectSize computes the confidence intervals using bootstrapping for the effect size.

    • Robust Cohen's d

      d=0.643*J(df)*(x¯ty¯t)sw,

      where x¯t and y¯t are the 20% trimmed means of data in x and y, respectively. sw is the pooled 20% Winsorized variance [2].

      meanEffectSize computes the confidence intervals using bootstrapping for the effect size.

    References

    [1] Cousineau, Denis, and Jean-Christophe Goulet-Pelletier. "A Study of Confidence Intervals for Cohen's d in Within-Subject Designs with New Proposals." The Quantitative Methods for Psychology 17, no. 1 (March 2021): 51--75. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.17.1.p051.

    [2] Algina, James, H. J. Keselman, and R. D. Penfield. "An Alternative to Cohen's Standardized Mean Difference Effect Size: A Robust Parameter and Confidence Interval in the Two Independent Groups Case." Psychological Methods 10, no. 3 (Sept 2005): 317–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.10.3.317.

    [3] Hess, Melinda, and Jeffrey Kromrey. "Robust Confidence Intervals for Effect Sizes: A Comparative Study of Cohen's d and Cliff's Delta Under Non-normality and Heterogeneous Variances." Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. 2004.

    [4] Delacre, Marie, Daniel Lakens, Christophe Ley, Limin Liu, and Christophe Leys. "Why Hedges G's Based on the Non-pooled Standard Deviation Should Be Reported with Welch's T-test." 2021.

    [5] Gardner, M. J., and D. G. Altman. Confidence Intervals Rather Than P Values; Estimation Rather Than Hypothesis Testing." BMJ, 292 no. 6522 (March 1986): 746–50. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.292.6522.746.

    Extended Capabilities

    Version History

    Introduced in R2022a

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