Complexity: An Interpretability Criterion for Multiple Comparisons.

This article deals with multiple comparison methods for a set of populations which can be described in terms of testing hypotheses of homogeneity of subsets. Criteria for evaluating procedures are defined in terms of the set of outcomes of all tests, termed the pattern of decisions. In particular complexity is introduced as a new criterion based on interpretability of that pattern. The criteria are defined and discussed in a general framework and then applied to the comparison of normal means. For the cases considered, results favor an F over a range procedure, and are mixed in the comparison of the F and the range procedure with a new gap procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]