MathBench > Statistical Tests

Goodness of Fit Tests

Do those shoes fit?

In this module, we are going to discuss and explore two ways of testing for "goodness of fit". You may have already read a module which introduced goodness of fit tests -- but if not, we'll review that statistical material, as well as talking about a "brute force" method.

So what does "goodness of fit" mean? You know whether your shoes fit your feet based on whether they cause pain, right?

In sort of the same way, you can decide whether your data fits your expectations using a "goodness of fit" test. And believe me, if your data doesn't fit, it can cause a lot of pain.

Note: for the chi-square section of the module, having a calculator on hand will make things go faster. You can also use a spreadsheet or calculator software on your computer.