APPLICATION OF MANN-WHITNEY U TEST IN RESEARCH OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

This paper presents the Mann-Whitney U Test statistical technique used in statistics to examine differences between two independent groups on a continuous scale.This test is a non-parametric alternative to the t-test for independent samples.Unlike the t-test which compares mean values between two groups, Mann-Whitney U Test compares their median.In researches of the professional development of teachers of primary schools, the most commonly used criterion variables were gender (male, female), education (college, university), occupation (class teacher/ subject teacher) and school environment (urban, rural).It is noticeable that these variables are characterized by the existence of two independent groups, which is one of the preconditions for the implementation of the Mann-Whitney U Test.In order to better understand the Mann-Whitney U Test statistical technique, it is presented in the example of practical application within the statistical program SPSS.Its application includes data processing, calculating the median of each group, interpretation of research results, and establishment of the amount of influence among the crossed variables.