Specific residue: application of orthogonal contrasts when heteroscedasticity is present

Abstract

When experimental data are submitted to analysis of variance, the assumption of data homoscedasticity (variance homogeneity among treatments), associated to the adopted mathematical model must be satisfied. This verification is necessary to ensure the correct test for the analysis. In some cases, when data homoscedascity is not observed, errors may invalidate the analysis. An alternative to overcome this difficulty is the application of the specific residue analysis, which consists of the decomposition of the residual sum of squares in its components, in order to adequately test the correspondent orthogonal contrasts of interest between treatment means. Although the decomposition of the residual sum of squares is a seldom used procedure, it is useful for a better understanding of the residual mean square nature and to validate the tests to be applied. The objective of this review is to illustrate the specific residue application as a valid and adequate alternative to analyze data from experiments following completely randomized and randomized complete block designs in the presence of heteroscedasticity.