Well, whenever I am educating someone on a difficult process whether that be in health care or otherwise I first evaluate what is the person's knowledge base. Since this is a non-stat student than I would first start with the definition of what analysis of variance or ANOVA is.

ANOVA is a statistical method used where the variation in a set of observations is divided into different components (an example would be comparing three or more groups of numbers).

If you had two groups (A-B) you would use a t test (explain what a t test is). When you have more than two sets of numbers (A-B, A-C, B-C) running t test can be exhaustive and risky. As the number of groups goes up more errors can be present.

That is why the ANOVA method was made. The ANOVA test allows us to use multiple null hypothesis's. You can compare means between the groups that you are interested in and ANOVA determines whether any of those means are significant statistically different from each group.

An example would be:

I read this example online "a researcher wishes to know whether different pacing strategies affect the time to complete a marathon. The researcher randomly assigns a group of volunteers to either a group that:

starts slow and then increases their speed.

starts fast and slows down.

runs at a steady pace throughout."

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