For a set of data with the number of groups = 3 and the total N = 196, the degrees of freedom are equal to ______.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 195

The formula to calculate degrees of freedom for a one-way ANOVA is:

df = N - k

where:
N = total number of observations
k = number of groups

Substituting the values given in the question, we get:

df = 196 - 3
df = 193

However, we need to remember that in a one-way ANOVA, one degree of freedom is lost due to estimating the grand mean, and another degree of freedom is lost due to estimating the variance within each group. Therefore, the correct degrees of freedom for this scenario would be:

df = k - 1
df = 3 - 1
df = 2

Hence, the answer is B.