The value of the studentized range, most often represented by the variable q, can be defined based on a random sample x1, ..., xn from the N(0, 1) distribution of numbers, and another random variable s that is independent of all the xi, and νs2 has a χ2 distribution with ν degrees of freedom. Then
has the Studentized range distribution for n groups and ν degrees of freedom. In applications, the xi are typically the means of samples each of size m, s2 is the pooled variance, and the degrees of freedom are ν = n(m − 1).
The critical value of q is based on three factors:
Main article: Studentized range distribution
If X1, ..., Xn are independent identically distributed random variables that are normally distributed, the probability distribution of their studentized range is what is usually called the studentized range distribution. Note that the definition of q does not depend on the expected value or the standard deviation of the distribution from which the sample is drawn, and therefore its probability distribution is the same regardless of those parameters.
Main article: Studentization
Generally, the term studentized means that the variable's scale was adjusted by dividing by an estimate of a population standard deviation (see also studentized residual). The fact that the standard deviation is a sample standard deviation rather than the population standard deviation, and thus something that differs from one random sample to the next, is essential to the definition and the distribution of the Studentized data. The variability in the value of the sample standard deviation contributes additional uncertainty into the values calculated. This complicates the problem of finding the probability distribution of any statistic that is studentized.
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