Estimated Marginal Means

Figure 1. Estimated marginal means
Estimated marginal means

This table displays the model-estimated marginal means and standard errors of Amount spent at the factor combinations of Gender and Shopping style. This table is useful for exploring the possible interaction effect between these two factors.

In this example, a male customer who makes purchases weekly is expected to spend about $440.96, while one who makes purchases more often is expected to spend $407.77. A female customer who makes purchases weekly is expected to spend $361.72, while one who makes purchases more often is expected to spend $405.72. Thus, there is a difference between "weekly" and "often" customers, depending upon the gender of the customer.

This fact suggests an interaction effect between Gender and Shopping style. If there were no interaction, you would expect the difference between shopping styles to remain constant for male and female customers. The interaction can be seen more easily in the profile plots.

Figure 2. Profile plot
Profile plot

The profile plot is a visual representation of the marginal means table. The factor levels of Shopping style are shown along the horizontal axis. Separate lines are produced for each level of Gender.

Alternately, the factor levels of Gender could be shown along the horizontal axis, with separate lines produced for each level of Shopping style.

If there were no interaction effect, the lines in the table would be parallel. Instead, you can see that the difference in spending between "weekly" and "often" customers is greater for female customers, as the line for male customers slopes downward and that for female customers slopes upward. This is a strong interaction effect and is unlikely to be due to chance, but you should check the tests of between-subjects effects for confirmation of its significance.

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