# Dixon's Q test

In statistics, Dixon's Q test, or simply the Q test, is used for identification and rejection of outliers. This assumes normal distribution and per Dean and Dixon, and others, this test should be used sparingly and never more than once in a data set. To apply a Q test for bad data, arrange the data in order of increasing values and calculate Q as defined:

$Q = \frac{\text{gap}}{\text{range}}$

Where gap is the absolute difference between the outlier in question and the closest number to it. If Q > Qtable, where Qtable is a reference value corresponding to the sample size and confidence level, then reject the questionable point. Note that only one point may be rejected from a data set using a Q test.

## Example

Consider the data set:

$0.189,\ 0.167,\ 0.187,\ 0.183,\ 0.186,\ 0.182,\ 0.181,\ 0.184,\ 0.181,\ 0.177 \,$

Now rearrange in increasing order:

$0.167,\ 0.177,\ 0.181,\ 0.181,\ 0.182,\ 0.183,\ 0.184,\ 0.186,\ 0.187,\ 0.189 \,$

We hypothesize 0.167 is an outlier. Calculate Q:

$Q=\frac{\text{gap}}{\text{range}} = \frac{0.177-0.167}{0.189-0.167}=0.455.$

With 10 observations and at 90% confidence, Q = 0.455 > 0.412 = Qtable, so we conclude 0.167 is an outlier. However, at 95% confidence, Q = 0.455 < 0.466 = Qtable 0.167 is not considered an outlier. This means that for this example we can be 90% sure that 0.167 is an outlier, but we cannot be 95% sure.

## Table

This table summarizes the limit values of the test.

 Number of values: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Q90%: 0.941 0.765 0.642 0.56 0.507 0.468 0.437 0.412 Q95%: 0.97 0.829 0.71 0.625 0.568 0.526 0.493 0.466 Q99%: 0.994 0.926 0.821 0.74 0.68 0.634 0.598 0.568