Test for Homogeneity of Variance 467 healthy plants and, hence, the hypothesis of no preference is rejected. In fact, the data seem to indicate that the ratio is about 2:1 in favor of the diseased plants, 11.2 TEST FOR HOMOGENEITY OF VARIANCE Most of the statistical procedures we have discussed are concerned with the treatment effects and with equality of treatment means as the most common hypothesis being tested. In this section, we deal with a statistical procedure for testing the equality (or homogeneity) of several variances. This is the chi-square test for homogeneity of variance, commonly known as the Bartiett’s test, In agricultural research, this test is usually used to: + Verify homogeneity of variances as a requirement for a valid analysis of variance (Chapter 7, Section 7.2). + Verify homogeneity of error variances in combining data from a series of experiments (Chapter 8). + Verify homogeneity of variances in a genetic study where the test materials consist of genotypes belonging to different filial generations. + Verify homogeneity of sampling variances among samples taken from two or more populations. The chi-square test for homogeneity of variances is applied whenever more than two variances are tested. The F test should be used when there are only two variances, with the F value computed as the ratio of the two variances—the larger variance in the numerator and the smaller variance in the denominator, This is well demonstrated through the standard F test in the analysis of variance, which is used to test the homogeneity of two mean squares—gener- ally the treatment mean square and the error mean square. ‘We use two cases to illustrate the procedure for applying the chi-square test for homogeneity of variances. In one case, all the variances are estimated with the same (equal) degree of freedom; in the other case the variance estimates have unequal degrees of freedom, 11.2.1 Equal Degree of Freedom We use data from an experiment with 11 rice varieties tested in three temperature regimes in a growth chamber, to illustrate the test for homogeneity of variances with equal degree of freedom. For each temperature, the varieties were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications, In order to combine the data from the three trials (one corresponding to each temperature) homogeneity of error variances from the three individual RCB analyses of variance must be established. The data collected are plant height in468 Chi-Square Test centimeters, and the three error mean squares, each with 20 degrees of freedom, are: s} = 11.459848 s} = 17.696970 sf = 10.106818 ‘The step-by-step procedures to apply the chi-square test to test for homo- geneity of k variances with equal d.f. are: Gi step 1. For each variance estimate s?, compute log s?, where log refers to Togarithm base 10. Then, compute the totals of all k values of s? and of logs?. * For our example, the values of s2,and log.s?,for each of the three error ‘mean squares and their totals are shown below: ‘Temperature 2 logs? 1 11.459848 1.059179 2 17.696970 1.247899 3 10,106818 1.004614 - Total 39,263636 3.311692 © ster 2. Compute the pooled estimate of variance as: k 3 I & " _ 39.263636 seth 3 = 13.087879 © srep 3. Let f be the degree of freedom of each s?, compute the x? value as: k (2.3026)(f)| k logs? - Y log s? int ve T+[(k + 173K] - For our example, the x? value is computed as: re ‘(2,3026)(20)[ (3) (tog 13.087879) - 3.311692] 1+[@ + 1)/()@)(20)] =175 © step 4. Compare the computed x? value with the tabular x? value from ‘Appendix D with (k — 1) d.f. and reject the hypothesis of homogeneousTest for Homogeneity of Variance 469 variance if tls computed x? value exceeds the corresponding tabular x? value at the prescribed level of significance, For our example, the computed x? value is smaller than the correspond- ing tabular x? value with (k - 1) = (3 ~ 1) = 2.d.f. and at the 5% level of significance of 5.99. Thus, the hypothesis that the three error variances are homogeneous cannot be rejected, 11.2.2. Unequal Degrees of Freedom The procedure for testing homogeneity of variances with unequal degrees of freedom is illustrated, using data on lesion length collected from rice leaves inoculated with four different isolates. For each isolate, 17 to 20 randomly selected lesions were measured. The resea-cher wished to determine whether there were differences in the lesion length between the different isolates, Refore applying a test for mean comparison, the homogeneity of sampling variances between the isolates must first be established, Data on the four sampling variances and their corresponding degrees of freedom are shown in Table 11.4. The step-by-step procedures for the application of the chi-square test for homogeneity of the four sampling variances with unequal degrees of freedom are outlined: © step 1. Let s? be the ith variance estimate (i = 1,...,k) with f, degrees of freedom, compute the following parameters: (AN(s?) (1)(l08 5?) i f For our example, these parameters are computed and shown ix Table 114. Table 11.4 Computation of the Chi-Square Test for Homogenelty of Variances with Unequal Degrees of Freedom eee Sampling Variance df. Isolate (3) (DAMS?) fogs? (flog 5?) j 6.73920 19 128.0448 0.828608 + 15.743552 00."5 1 2 1,93496 16 30,9594 0.286672 4.586752 0.06.5 3 1.15500 17 19.6350 0.062582 1.063894 0.0588 4 10.58450, 19 201.1055 1.024670 19.468730 0.0526 Total na 379.7447 40.862928 0.2265 Pooled 5.34852 0.728234 $1.704614 GP a470 Chi-Square Test step 2, For each parameter computed in step 1, compute its total over k values: k A= Lf=19+16+17+19=71 iat B= (As) it = 128.0448 + 30,9594 + 19,6350 + 201.1055 = 379.7447 k c= L (Ay(togs?) in = 15.743552 + 4.586752 + 1.063894-+ 19.468730 = 40,862928 k D= ¥ 1 = 0.0526 + 0.0625 + 0.0588 + 0.0526 mt = 0.2265 ster 3, “Compute the estimate of the pooled variance as: ged where the A an.’ B values are as defined and computed in step 2. For our example, the pooled variance is estimated as: 2, 379.7447 spo a = 5.34852 ster 4. Compute the x? value as: 2 _, 2:3026{(4)(tog 53) - ¢] 1esqig (2-4) where A, C, and D are as defined in step 2. For our example, the x? value is computed as: 2,026] (71)(0.728234) — 40.862928) 1 1 ‘aay (0-265 -#)Test for Goodness of Fit 471 1D step 5. Compare the computed x? value of step 4 with the tabular x? value from Appendix D with (k — 1) d.f.; and reject the hypothesis of homoge- neous variance if the computed x? value exceeds the corresponding tabular x? value at the prescribed level of significance. For our example, the tabular x? values with (k — 1) = 3 d.f. are 7.81 at the 5% level of significance and 11.24 at the 1% level. Because the computed x? value exceeds the corresponding tabular x? value at the 1% level of Significance, the hypothesis of homogeneous variance is rejected. That is, the test showed significant differences between the four sampling variances, 11.3 TEST FOR GOODNESS OF FIT The test for goodness of fii determines whether a set of observed data conforms to a specified probability distribution. For example, data on rice yield or protein content may be suspected to follow a normal distribution." The spatial distribution of weeds in a rice field or of insects caught in traps over time may be suspected to have Poisson distribution." In a study to determine the mode of inheritance of protein content of rice, the percentage of brown rice protein in the grains of F; plants derived from a cross between two rice varieties was measured, Visual examination of the data (Figure 11.1) seems to suggest a substantial deviation from the normal distribu- Fs plans (no) 109, 80} 60] 40} 1, h 070 90 NO 130 150 Figure 11.1 Frequency distribution of brown rice Brown nice proten (%) protein in 450 F, plants The most important continuous distribution in agricultural research. [tis bell-shaped, symmetric, and is governed by two parameters: the mean and the variance of the distribution. 1A diserete distribution which is widely used to represent occurrence of rare events over space or time. It is governed by a single parameter, which is both the mean and the variance of the distribution.