TESTS OF HYPOTHESES FOR THE DISTANCE BETWEEN POPULATIONS ON THE MIXTURE OF CATEGORICAL AND CONTINUOUS VARIABLES

Abstract

In this paper, we study tests of two hypotheses on the distance between two populations with mixed variables, where some are categorical and the others are continuous. This distance is the extended Mahalanobis squared distance on the location model. Asymptotic probability distributions of the test statistics under the hypotheses are introduced, and the performances of the tests are investigated through simulation methods. As a result of all simulations, we recommend that the two hypotheses tests have to be used together to improve each other's weaknesses.