Mood's and David's tests investigate the difference between the dispersions of two independent samples of sizes
and
, denoted by
and
The hypothesis under test,
, often called the null hypothesis, is that the dispersion difference is zero, and this is to be tested against a one- or two-sided alternative hypothesis
(see below).
Both tests are based on the rankings of the sample members within the pooled sample formed by combining both samples. If there is some difference in dispersion, more of the extreme ranks will tend to be found in one sample than in the other.
The returned value
(
or
) can be used to perform a significance test, against various alternative hypotheses
, as follows.
(i) |
: dispersions are unequal. is rejected if . |
(ii) |
: dispersion of sample dispersion of sample . is rejected if . |
(iii) |
: dispersion of sample dispersion of sample . is rejected if . |
- 1: – Real (Kind=nag_wp) arrayInput
-
On entry: the first
elements of
x must be set to the data values in the first sample, and the next
(
) elements to the data values in the second sample.
- 2: – IntegerInput
-
On entry: the total of the two sample sizes, ().
Constraint:
.
- 3: – IntegerInput
-
On entry: the size of the first sample, .
Constraint:
.
- 4: – Real (Kind=nag_wp) arrayOutput
-
On exit: the ranks
, assigned to the data values , for .
- 5: – IntegerInput
-
On entry: the test(s) to be carried out.
- Both Mood's and David's tests.
- David's test only.
- Mood's test only.
Constraint:
, or .
- 6: – Real (Kind=nag_wp)Output
-
On exit: Mood's test statistic, , if requested.
- 7: – Real (Kind=nag_wp)Output
-
On exit: David's test statistic, , if requested.
- 8: – Real (Kind=nag_wp)Output
-
On exit: the lower tail probability, , corresponding to the value of , if Mood's test was requested.
- 9: – Real (Kind=nag_wp)Output
-
On exit: the lower tail probability, , corresponding to the value of , if David's test was requested.
- 10: – IntegerInput/Output
-
On entry:
ifail must be set to
,
. If you are unfamiliar with this argument you should refer to
Section 3.4 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation for details.
For environments where it might be inappropriate to halt program execution when an error is detected, the value
is recommended. If the output of error messages is undesirable, then the value
is recommended. Otherwise, if you are not familiar with this argument, the recommended value is
.
When the value is used it is essential to test the value of ifail on exit.
On exit:
unless the routine detects an error or a warning has been flagged (see
Section 6).
If on entry
or
, explanatory error messages are output on the current error message unit (as defined by
x04aaf).
All computations are believed to be stable. The statistics and should be accurate enough for all practical uses.
This example is taken from page 280 of
Cooper (1975). The data consists of two samples of six observations each. Both Mood's and David's test statistics and significances are computed. Note that Mood's statistic is inflated owing to the difference in location of the two samples, the median ranks differing by a factor of two.