Hi, I have a bit of a random question, but any help would be much appreciated.

I have been asked to put asterisks in my tables to show significant differences between groups. I have three groups - Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3. If there are significant differences between Groups 1 and 2, and Groups 1 and 3, but not Group 2 and 3, how do I display this? Because there would be an asterisk next to each group, but this seems misleading? For instance, this seems incorrect but how else could I show the significant differences?


Mean SD
Group 1 16.72* 5.20
Group 2 19.16* 4.92
Group 3 17.34* 4.37

Thanks in advance :)

You could put a row/coleumn that spans the appropriate coleumns with linking lines between groups 1 & 2 with astrieks and another row/coleumn with linking lines between 1&3.

Oh thanks, that's very helpful! :)

Do you mean 'statistically significant' with respect to the difference? If you have done a statistical test, you should really report the p value to help your readers evaluate the nature of the difference.

Edited to add: I'm not sure if this is the same as what thumbelina suggested, but one option is to make a 3x3 table with the results of the significance test in each cell.