GLM Hypothesis Testing - Type VI (Effective Hypothesis) Sums of Squares
Type I through Type V sums of squares can all be viewed as providing tests of hypotheses that subsets of partial regression coefficients (controlling for or orthogonal to appropriate additional effects) are zero. Effective hypothesis tests (developed by Hocking, 1996) are based on the philosophy that the only unambiguous estimate of an effect is the proportion of variability on the outcome that is uniquely attributable to the effect. The overparameterized coding of effects for categorical predictor variables generally cannot be used to provide such unique estimates for lower-order effects. Effective hypothesis tests, which we propose to call Type VI sums of squares, use the sigma-restricted coding of effects for categorical predictor variables to provide unique effect estimates even for lower-order effects.
The method for computing Type VI sums of squares is straightforward. The sigma-restricted coding of effects is used, and for each effect, its Type VI sums of squares is the difference of the model sums of squares for all other effects from the whole model sums of squares. As such, the Type VI sums of squares provide an unambiguous estimate of the variability of predicted values for the outcome uniquely attributable to each effect.
In ANOVA designs with missing cells, Type VI sums of squares for effects can have fewer degrees of freedom than they would have if there were no missing cells, and for some missing cell designs, can even have zero degrees of freedom. The philosophy of Type VI sums of squares is to test as much as possible of the original hypothesis given the observed cells. If the pattern of missing cells is such that no part of the original hypothesis can be tested, so be it. The inability to test hypotheses is simply the price one pays for having no observations at some combinations of the levels of the categorical predictor variables. The philosophy is that it is better to admit that a hypothesis cannot be tested than it is to test a distorted hypothesis which may not meaningfully reflect the original hypothesis.
Type VI sums of squares cannot generally be used to test hypotheses for nested ANOVA designs, separate slope designs, or mixed-model designs, because the sigma-restricted coding of effects for categorical predictor variables is overly restrictive in such designs. This limitation, however, does not diminish the fact that Type VI sums of squares can be computed for any other design that can be analyzed using the general linear model.
Whole Model Tests
Error Terms for Tests
Testing Hypotheses for Repeated Measures and Dependent Variables