help tostsignrank -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title tostsignrank -- Test for the distribution of paired or matched data being equivalent to one that is symmetrical & centered on zero Syntax Matched-pairs signed-ranks test for the distribution of paired or matched data being equivalent to one that is symmetrical & centered on zero tostsignrank varname = exp [if] [in] [, eqvtype(type) eqvlevel(#) uppereqvlevel(#) ccontinuity alpha(#) relevance] by is allowed with tostsignrank; see [D] by. tostsignrank options Description -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miscellaneous eqvtype(string) specify equivalence threshold with Delta or epsilon eqvlevel(#) the level of tolerance defining the equivalence interval uppereqvlevel(#) the upper value of an asymmetric equivalence interval ccontinuity include a continuity correction alpha(#) set nominal type I level; default is alpha(0.05) relevance perform & report combined tests for difference and equivalence -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Description tostsignrank tests the null hypothesis that the paired differences in measures are not symmetrically distributed and/or are not centered on the value of zero, and provides evidence for the distribution paired differences being equivalence to one that is symmetric and centered on zero. tostsignrank uses the z approximation to the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test (Wilcoxon 1945) in a two one-sided tests approach (Schuirmann, 1987). With respect to the signed-rank test, a negativist null hypothesis takes one of the following two forms depending on whether tolerance is defined in terms of Delta (equivalence expressed in the same units as the signed ranks) or in terms of epsilon (equivalence expressed in the units of the z distribution): Ho: |T - E(T)| >= Delta, where the equivalence interval ranges from |T - E(T)|-Delta to |T - E(T)|+Delta, and where T is the signed-rank statistic and E(T) is its mean under the null. This translates directly into two one-sided null hypotheses: Ho1: Delta - [T - E(T)] <= 0; and Ho2: [T - E(T)] + Delta <= 0 -OR- Ho: |Z| >= epsilon, where the equivalence interval ranges from -epsilon to epsilon. This also translates directly into two one-sided null hypotheses: Ho1: epsilon - Z <= 0; and Ho2: Z + epsilon <= 0 When an asymmetric equivalence interval is defined using the uppereqvlevel option the general negativist null hypothesis becomes: Ho: [T - E(T)] <= Delta_lower, or [T - E(T)] >= Delta_upper, where the equivalence interval ranges from [T - E(T)] + Delta_lower to [T - E(T)] + Delta_upper. This also translates directly into two one-sided null hypotheses: Ho1: Delta_upper - [T - E(T)] <= 0; and Ho2: [T - E(T)] - Delta_lower <= 0 -OR- Ho: Z <= epsilon_lower, or Z >= epsilon_upper, Ho1: epsilon_upper - Z <= 0; and Ho2: Z - epsilon_lower <= 0 NOTE: the appropriate level of alpha is precisely the same as in the corresponding two-sided test for evidence that paired differences are not symmetrically distributed and/or not centered on zero, so that, for example, if one wishes to make a type I error %5 of the time, one simply conducts both of the one-sided tests of Ho1 and Ho2 by comparing the resulting p-value to 0.05 (Wellek, 2010). For equivalence tests on unmatched data, see tostranksum. Options +------+ ----+ Main +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- eqvtype(string) defines whether the equivalence interval will be defined in terms of Delta or epsilon (delta, or epsilon). These options change the way that evqlevel is interpreted: when delta is specified, the evqlevel is measured in the units of the signed rank sums, and when epsilon is specified, the evqlevel is measured in multiples of the standard deviation of the z distribution; put another way epsilon = Delta/standard error. Because units of signed rank sums are unlikely to be substantively meaningful, the default is epsilon. Defining tolerance in terms of epsilon means that it is not possible to reject any test of mean equivalence Ho if epsilon <= the critical value of z for a given alpha. Because epsilon = Delta/standard error, we can see that it is not possible to reject any Ho if Delta <= the product of the standard error and critical value of z for a given alpha. tostsignrank reports when either of these conditions obtain. Given that the variance of signed-rank distributions can be very large, tolerance should be specified using delta only with great care. eqvlevel(#) defines the equivalence threshold for the tests depending on whether eqvtype is delta or epsilon (see above). Researchers are responsible for choosing meaningful values of Delta or epsilon. The default value is 1 (certain to be meaningless) when delta is the eqvtype and 2 when epsilon is the eqvtype. uppereqvlevel(#) defines the upper equivalence threshold for the test, and transforms the meaning of eqvlevel to mean the lower equivalence threshold for the test. Also, eqvlevel is assumed to be a negative value. Taken together, these correspond to Schuirmann's (1987) asymmetric equivalence intervals. If uppereqvlevel==|eqvlevel|, then uppereqvlevel will be ignored. ccontinuity specifies that the test statistics incorporate a continuity correction using |T-E(T)|-0.5, but retaining the sign of the z-statistic after the correction has been applied (see eqvtype above). alpha(#) specifies the nominal type I error rate. The default is alpha(0.05). relevance reports results and inference for combined tests for distributional difference and distributional equivalence for a specific alpha, eqvtype, and eqvlevel. See the end of the Discussion section in tost for more details on inference from combined tests. Examples . webuse fuel . tostsignrank mpg1 = mpg2, eqvt(epsilon) eqvl(2.46) (2.46 = invnormal(0.975) + 0.5) . tostsignrank mpg1 = mpg2, eqvt(epsilon) eqvl(4) upper(2) cc rel Saved results signrank saves the following in r(): Scalars r(N_neg) number of negative comparisons r(N_pos) number of positive comparisons r(N_tie) number of tied comparisons r(sum_pos) sum of the positive ranks r(sum_neg) sum of the negative ranks r(z1) z statistic for Ho1 (upper) r(z1) z statistic for Ho1 (upper) r(p2) P(Z >= z1) r(p2) P(Z >= z2) r(Var_a) adjusted variance r(Delta) Delta, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval; OR r(Du) Delta_upper, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval's upper side; AND r(Dl) Delta_lower, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval's lower side; OR r(epsilon) epsilon, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval r(eu) epsilon_upper, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval's upper side; AND r(el) epsilon_lower, tolerance level defining the equivalence interval's lower side r(relevance) Relevance test conclusion for given alpha and Delta/epsilon Author Alexis Dinno Portland State University alexis.dinno@pdx.edu Development of tost is ongoing, please contact me with any questions, bug reports or suggestions for improvement. Fixing bugs will be facilitated by sending along (1) a copy of the data (de-labeled or anonymized is fine), (2) a copy of the command used and (3) a copy of the exact output of the command. Suggested citation Dinno A. 2017. tostsignrank: Test for the distribution of paired or matched data being equivalent to one that is symmetrical & centered on zero. Stata software package. URL: https://www.alexisdinno.com/stata/tost.html References Schuirmann, D. A. 1987. A comparison of the two one-sided tests procedure and the power approach for assessing the equivalence of average bioavailability. Pharmacometrics 15: 657-680 Snedecor, G. W., and W. G. Cochran. 1989. Statistical Methods. 8th ed. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. Wellek, S. 2010. Testing Statistical Hypotheses of Equivalence and Noninferiority, second edition. Chapman and Hall/CRC Press. p. 31 Wilcoxon, F. 1945. Individual comparisons by ranking methods. Biometrics 1: 80-83. Also See Help: tost, pkequiv, signrank