I was just wondering if I was interpreting my findings correctly.

I am evaluating a treatment on a group of children. the class teachers completed the strengths and difficulties questionnaire on the same group of children at time 1(T1) and time 2 (T2)

When I initially interpreted the paired sample T-test, I was able to compare the means, and make assumptions as to whether the treatment produced an improvement or not.

For the Wilcoxon test, I have the medians. My difficulty is that for example, the hyperactivity scale

Scores from 0-5 are in the normal band, scores of 6 are borderline and scores that ranged from 7-10 are abnormal.

I’m finding it difficult to determine whether the conclusions I was able to make from the paired T-test will be the same for the Wilcox test. ( I did not check for normality, thus, now having to use the Wilcoxon test)

So for example,

For the hyperactivity scale for the paired t-test I found: (T1= time1 and T2 =time 2)

There was a significant difference in the hyperactivity scores for T1 (M=3.56, SD=2.473) and T2 (M=1.84, SD=2.156); t (74) =7.670, p<0.05.

I then stated that: These results suggest that the treatment produced a significant improvement in the hyperactivity scale scores at T2. (I looked at the means for this, even though there was a decline, using the information above about the band scoring it suggested that there was an improvement) is this correct?

However, how do I make similar conclusions using medians?

For example the prosocial behaviour score band is as follows: 6-10 for normal, 5 =borderline and 0-4 is considered abnormal.

below is the beginning of my draft for the write up section.

A test of normality reveals (see Appendix a) that the data was not normally distributed, except for the hyperactivity scale at T1 for the Kolmogorov-Smirnovtest but not for the Shapiro-Wilk test. For this reason a non- parametric test was used.

A Wilcoxon T- test was carried out to compare the T1 scores to the T2 scores on the five SDQ scales and the total difficulties scores.

Table1 : Wilcoxon Signed Ranks for the five SDQ scales and the total difficulties scores at T1 and T2.

		N	Mean Rank	Sum of Ranks
Pro Social Scale at Time 1 - Pro Social Scale at Time 2	Negative Ranks	37^a	30.38	1124.00
	Positive Ranks	19^b	24.84	472.00
	Ties	19^c
	Total	75
Hyperactivity Scale at Time 1 - Hyperactivity Scale at Time 2	Negative Ranks	5^d	21.50	107.50
	Positive Ranks	52^e	29.72	1545.50
	Ties	18^f
	Total	75
Conduct Problems Scale at Time 1 - Conduct Problems Scale at Time 2	Negative Ranks	12^g	19.83	238.00
	Positive Ranks	25^h	18.60	465.00
	Ties	38ⁱ
	Total	75
Emotional Symptoms Scale at Time 1 - Emotional Symptoms Scale at Time 2	Negative Ranks	10^j	18.85	188.50
	Positive Ranks	34^k	23.57	801.50
	Ties	31^l
	Total	75
Peer Problems Scale at Time 1 - Peer Problems Scale at Time 2	Negative Ranks	12^m	26.58	319.00
	Positive Ranks	40ⁿ	26.48	1059.00
	Ties	23^o
	Total	75
Total SDQ score at Time 1 - Total SDQ score at Time 2	Negative Ranks	8^p	34.12	273.00
	Positive Ranks	62^q	35.68	2212.00
	Ties	5^r
	Total	75

Table 2: Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

	Pro Social Scale at Time 1 - Pro Social Scale at Time 2	Hyperactivity Scale at Time 1 - Hyperactivity Scale at Time 2	Conduct Problems Scale at Time 1 - Conduct Problems Scale at Time 2	Emotional Symptoms Scale at Time 1 - Emotional Symptoms Scale at Time 2	Peer Problems Scale at Time 1 - Peer Problems Scale at Time 2	Total SDQ score at Time 1 - Total SDQ score at Time 2
Z	-2.685^a	-5.755^b	-1.735^b	-3.615^b	-3.467^b	-5.687^b
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)	.007	.000	.083	.000	.001	.000

a. Based on negative ranks

b. Based on positive ranks

A Wilcox Signed Rank Test revealed that:

Am I correct in my interpretation here???

There was a significant difference in the pro-social behaviour scale scores for T1 and T2, Z=-2.685, p=0.07. The median score on the pro-social behaviour scale has decreased from T1 (Md=30.38) to T2 (Md=24.84). The results suggest that the treatment produced a significant difference in the pro-social behaviour scale scores. However, they were better at T1 than at T2.

There was a significant difference in the hyperactivity scale for T1 and T2, Z=-5.755, p<0.05. The median score on the hyperactivity scale has increased from T1 (Md=21.50) to T2 (Md=29.72). These results suggest that NA produced a significant improvement in the hyperactivity scale scores and that at T2.

Hope my questions make sense and that you are able to help!