One area in statistics where I see conflicting advice is how to analyze pre-post data. I’ve seen this myself in consulting. A few years ago, I received a call from a distressed client. Let’s call her Nancy.
Nancy had asked for advice about how to run a repeated measures analysis. The advisor told Nancy that actually, a repeated measures analysis was inappropriate for her data.
Nancy was sure repeated measures was appropriate. This advice led her to fear that she had grossly misunderstood a very basic tenet in her statistical training.
The Study Design
Nancy had measured a response variable at two time points for two groups. The intervention group received a treatment and a control group did not. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two groups.
The researcher measured each participant before and after the intervention.
Analyzing the Pre-Post Data
Nancy was sure that this was a classic repeated measures experiment. It has (more…)