SAS Institute. The Power to Know

SAS/QC(R) 9.2 User's Guide


BOXCHART Statement

Constructing ANOM Boxcharts

The following notation is used in this section:

x_{ij}jth response in the ith group
knumber of groups
n_{i}sample size of ith group
ntotal sample size = n_1 +  ...  + n_k
\mu_iexpected value of a response in the ith group
\sigmastandard deviation of response
\bar{x}_{i}average response in ith group
\overline{\overline{x}}weighted average of k group means
s_{i}^2sample variance of the responses in the ith group
 \hat{\sigma^2}mean square error (MSE)
\nudegrees of freedom associated with the mean square error
\alphasignificance level
h(\alpha; k, n, \nu )critical value for analysis of means when the sample sizes n_{i} are equal (n_i \equiv n)
h(\alpha; k, n_1, ... , n_k, \nu )critical value for analysis of means when the sample sizes n_{i} are not equal


Elements of Box-and-Whisker Plots

A box-and-whisker plot is displayed for the measurements in each group on the ANOM boxchart. Figure 5.8 illustrates the elements of each plot.

anombox1.png (3717 bytes)

Figure 5.8: Box-and-Whisker Plot

The skeletal style of the box-and-whisker plot shown in Figure 5.8 is the default. You can specify alternative styles with the BOXSTYLE= option; see the entry for the BOXSTYLE= option in Chapter 56, "Dictionary of Options."

Central Line

By default, the central line on an ANOM chart for means represents the weighted average of the group means, which is computed as

\overline{\overline{x}} = \frac{n_{1}\bar{x_{1}} +  ...  + n_{k}\bar{x_{k}}}    {n_{1} +  ...  + n_{k}}

You can specify a value for \overline{\overline{x}} with the MEAN= option in the BOXCHART statement or with the variable _MEAN_ in a LIMITS= data set.

Decision Limits

In the analysis of means for continuous data, it is assumed that the responses in the ith group are at least approximately normally distributed with a constant variance:

x_{ij} \sim n( \mu_{i}, \sigma^2 ), \;\;\;\;\; j = 1,  ... , n_i

When the group sizes are constant (n_i \equiv n), then \nu = n-k=k(n-1) and the decision limits are computed as follows:

{lower decision limit (ldl)} & = & \overline{\overline{x}} -    h(\alpha; k, n, \...   ...rline{\overline{x}} +    h(\alpha; k, n, \nu )    \sqrt{mse}    \sqrt{\frac{k-1}n}

Here the mean square error (MSE) is computed as follows:

{mse} = \hat{\sigma^2} =    \frac{1}k \sum_{j=1}^k s_{j}^2

For details concerning the function h(\alpha; k, n, \nu ), see Nelson (1981, 1982a, 1993).

When the group sizes n_{i} are not constant (the unbalanced case), \nu = n-k and the decision limits for the ith group are computed as follows:

{lower decision limit (ldl)} & = & \overline{\overline{x}} -    h(\alpha; k, n_1,...   ...    h(\alpha; k, n_1, ... ,n_k, \nu )    \sqrt{mse}    \sqrt{\frac{n - n_i}{nn_i}}

Here the mean square error (MSE) is computed as follows:

{mse} = \hat{\sigma^2} =    \frac{(n_{1} - 1)s_1^2 +  ...  + (n_{k} - 1)s_{k}^2}    {n_{1} +  ...  + n_{k} - k}

This requires that \nu be positive. A chart is not produced if \nu\gt but MSE is equal to zero (unless you specify the ZEROSTD option). For details concerning the function h(\alpha; k, n_1, ... , n_k, \nu ), see Fritsch and Hsu (1997), Nelson (1982b, 1991), and Soong and Hsu (1997).

You can specify parameters for the limits as follows:

  • Specify \alpha with the ALPHA= option or with the variable _ALPHA_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default, \alpha = 0.05.
  • Specify a constant nominal sample size n_i \equiv n for the decision limits in the balanced case with the LIMITN= option or with the variable _LIMITN_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default, n is the observed sample size in the balanced case.
  • Specify k with the LIMITK= option or with the variable _LIMITK_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default, k is the number of groups.
  • Specify \overline{\overline{x}} with the MEAN= option or with the variable _MEAN_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default, \overline{\overline{x}} is the weighted average of the responses.
  • Specify  \hat{\sigma^2} with the MSE= option or with the variable _MSE_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default,  \hat{\sigma^2} is computed as indicated above.
  • Specify \nu with the DFE= option or with the variable _DFE_ in a LIMITS= data set. By default, \nu is determined as indicated above.