Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test | Community Health

The Wilcoxon rank sum test, also known as the Mann-Whitney U test, is a non-parametric statistical test used to compare two independent samples. It was first introduced by Frank Wilcoxon in 1945 and is widely used in various fields, including medicine, social sciences, and engineering. The test calculates the probability that the observed difference between the two samples is due to chance, with a p-value less than 0.05 indicating a statistically significant difference. The Wilcoxon rank sum test is particularly useful when the data does not meet the assumptions of parametric tests, such as normality or equal variances. For example, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2010 used the Wilcoxon rank sum test to compare the survival rates of patients with different types of cancer, with a p-value of 0.01 indicating a significant difference. With a vibe score of 8, the Wilcoxon rank sum test is a widely accepted and influential statistical method, with over 10,000 citations in academic papers. However, it has also been criticized for its sensitivity to outliers and its assumption of independence between samples.