Sphericity - Sphericity in Statistics

Sphericity in Statistics

In statistical analyses, sphericity relates to the equality of the variances of the differences between levels of the repeated measures factor. Sphericity requires that the variances for each set of difference scores are equal. A sufficient (but not necessary) condition for sphericity is that the variances of the sets of scores are equal and the covariances of the sets of scores are equal. This is an assumption of an ANOVA with a repeated measures factor, where violations of this assumption can invalidate the analysis conclusions. Mauchly's sphericity test is one of the statistical tests used to evaluate sphericity.