ANOVA stands for Analysis of Variance. It's a statistical test that was developed by Ronald Fisher in 1918 and has been in use ever since. Put simply, ANOVA tells you if there are any statistical differences between the means of three or more independent groups.

What does an ANOVA test tell you?

The ANOVA test allows a comparison of more than two groups at the same time to determine whether a relationship exists between them. ... If no real difference exists between the tested groups, which is called the null hypothesis, the result of the ANOVA's F-ratio statistic will be close to 1.

What do ANOVA values mean?

The F value in one way ANOVA is a tool to help you answer the question “Is the variance between the means of two populations significantly different?” The F value in the ANOVA test also determines the P value; The P value is the probability of getting a result at least as extreme as the one that was actually observed, ...