\HeaderA{fligner.test}{Fligner-Killeen Test of Homogeneity of Variances}{fligner.test}
\methaliasA{fligner.test.default}{fligner.test}{fligner.test.default}
\methaliasA{fligner.test.formula}{fligner.test}{fligner.test.formula}
\keyword{htest}{fligner.test}
\begin{Description}\relax
Performs a Fligner-Killeen (median) test of the null that the
variances in each of the groups (samples) are the same.
\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
fligner.test(x, ...)

## Default S3 method:
fligner.test(x, g, ...)

## S3 method for class 'formula':
fligner.test(formula, data, subset, na.action, ...)
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{Arguments}
\begin{ldescription}
\item[\code{x}] a numeric vector of data values, or a list of numeric data
vectors.
\item[\code{g}] a vector or factor object giving the group for the
corresponding elements of \code{x}.
Ignored if \code{x} is a list.
\item[\code{formula}] a formula of the form \code{lhs \textasciitilde{} rhs} where \code{lhs}
gives the data values and \code{rhs} the corresponding groups.
\item[\code{data}] an optional matrix or data frame (or similar: see
\code{\LinkA{model.frame}{model.frame}}) containing the variables in the
formula \code{formula}.  By default the variables are taken from
\code{environment(formula)}.
\item[\code{subset}] an optional vector specifying a subset of observations
to be used.
\item[\code{na.action}] a function which indicates what should happen when
the data contain \code{NA}s.  Defaults to
\code{getOption("na.action")}.
\item[\code{...}] further arguments to be passed to or from methods.
\end{ldescription}
\end{Arguments}
\begin{Details}\relax
If \code{x} is a list, its elements are taken as the samples to be
compared for homogeneity of variances, and hence have to be numeric
data vectors.  In this case, \code{g} is ignored, and one can simply
use \code{fligner.test(x)} to perform the test.  If the samples are
not yet contained in a list, use \code{fligner.test(list(x, ...))}.

Otherwise, \code{x} must be a numeric data vector, and \code{g} must
be a vector or factor object of the same length as \code{x} giving the
group for the corresponding elements of \code{x}.

The Fligner-Killeen (median) test has been determined in a simulation
study as one of the many tests for homogeneity of variances which is
most robust against departures from normality, see Conover, Johnson \&
Johnson (1981).  It is a \eqn{k}{}-sample simple linear rank which uses
the ranks of the absolute values of the centered samples and weights
\eqn{a(i) = \mathrm{qnorm}((1 + i/(n+1))/2)}{}.  The version implemented here uses median centering in
each of the samples (F-K:med \eqn{X^2}{} in the reference).
\end{Details}
\begin{Value}
A list of class \code{"htest"} containing the following components:
\begin{ldescription}
\item[\code{statistic}] the Fligner-Killeen:med \eqn{X^2}{} test statistic.
\item[\code{parameter}] the degrees of freedom of the approximate chi-squared
distribution of the test statistic.
\item[\code{p.value}] the p-value of the test.
\item[\code{method}] the character string
\code{"Fligner-Killeen test of homogeneity of variances"}.
\item[\code{data.name}] a character string giving the names of the data.
\end{ldescription}
\end{Value}
\begin{References}\relax
William J. Conover \& Mark E. Johnson \& Myrle M. Johnson (1981).
A comparative study of tests for homogeneity of variances, with
applications to the outer continental shelf bidding data.
\emph{Technometrics} \bold{23}, 351--361.
\end{References}
\begin{SeeAlso}\relax
\code{\LinkA{ansari.test}{ansari.test}} and \code{\LinkA{mood.test}{mood.test}} for rank-based
two-sample test for a difference in scale parameters;
\code{\LinkA{var.test}{var.test}} and \code{\LinkA{bartlett.test}{bartlett.test}} for parametric
tests for the homogeneity of variances.
\end{SeeAlso}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}
require(graphics)

plot(count ~ spray, data = InsectSprays)
fligner.test(InsectSprays$count, InsectSprays$spray)
fligner.test(count ~ spray, data = InsectSprays)
## Compare this to bartlett.test()
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}

