Which statement describes the assumption that the variance of a dependent variable is stable at all levels of the independent variable?

Which statement describes the assumption that the variance of a dependent variable is stable at all levels of the independent variable?

• A. Homogeneity of variance
• B. Heterogeneity of variance
• C. Homoscedasticity
• D. Heteroscedasticity

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that the spread of scores on the dependent variable is the same across every level of the independent variable. This equal spread is called homogeneity of variance. It matters because many statistical tests (like ANOVA and regression) rely on having constant error variance across groups; when this holds, the standard errors and test statistics are valid. If the variance changes with the level of the independent variable, that’s heteroscedasticity (often called heterogeneity of variance), which can bias results. So the statement describing equal variances across levels is homogeneity of variance.

The main idea is that the spread of scores on the dependent variable is the same across every level of the independent variable. This equal spread is called homogeneity of variance. It matters because many statistical tests (like ANOVA and regression) rely on having constant error variance across groups; when this holds, the standard errors and test statistics are valid. If the variance changes with the level of the independent variable, that’s heteroscedasticity (often called heterogeneity of variance), which can bias results. So the statement describing equal variances across levels is homogeneity of variance.