In a community health survey comparing malnutrition rates across 5 socioeconomic groups, the appropriate test of significance to use is:

• A Unpaired Student's t-test
• B Chi-square test for trend (Cochran-Armitage)
• C One-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) ✓
• D Paired t-test

Explanation

When comparing a continuous variable (e.g., malnutrition rate measured as a continuous index) or means across more than two independent groups, one-way ANOVA is appropriate. If comparing proportions (categorical outcomes) across multiple independent groups, chi-square test is used. The Student's t-test compares means of only two groups; it cannot be directly applied to >2 groups without inflating Type I error. The Cochran-Armitage test is specifically for dose-response trend in categorical data across ordered groups. Paired t-test is used for before-after or matched-pair designs.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

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