MULTPERM - A COMPUTER PACKAGE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF MULTIVARIATE DATA USING PERMUTATION PROCEDURES

MULTPERM is a user-friendly C program using an exact permutation test for comparing groups when the data involve one or more response variab les. The program computes the average within group distance based on a generalized distance function. Statistical significance of group diff erences is assessed by comparing the average distance for the observed data to the distribution of distances generated by all permutations o f subjects to groups. This procedure is nonparametric and is especiall y appropriate if the assumptions underlying more traditional methods a re not satisfied. The program was developed for personal computers and compiled using Borland's Turbo C 2.0. It should be easily ported to o ther platforms. An approximate test based on the beta distribution is incorporated for large samples.