Multivariate analysis of variance

Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) is a tool used by researchers to help look at how two or more groups of people are affected by multiple factors (or variables) at the same time. For example, a researcher could be looking at how different factors affect college grades (e.g., hours spent studying, class difficulty, school type).

MANOVA takes all the information from the different variables and looks at their combined effect on the outcome. This way, it's easier to tell whether different factors have an overall impact on college grades (instead of just looking at each factor separately). MANOVA helps the researcher to figure out if the differences between the groups are because of the given factors, or if there are other effects at work.