title: Testing Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with a simple root-mean-square statistic.
abstract: We provide evidence that, in certain circumstances, a root-mean-square test of goodness of fit can be significantly more powerful than state-of-the-art tests in detecting deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Unlike Pearson's $\chi ^2$ test, the log-likelihood-ratio test, and Fisher's exact test, which are sensitive to relative discrepancies between genotypic frequencies, the root-mean-square test is sensitive to absolute discrepancies. This can increase statistical power, as we demonstrate using benchmark data sets and simulations, and through asymptotic analysis.
authors: Department of Mathematics, RLM 10.144, University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Ward
authors: Raymond J
authors: RJ
authors: Carroll
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000483:Alleles; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009010:Monte Carlo Method
keywords: Absolute discrepancies; Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium; Relative discrepancies; Root mean square