QMethod Option in Proc Means

[deleted_user]

What impact does QMethod option have on the output?

thanks.

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:
From the doc:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/61895/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a000146729.htm

QMETHOD=OS|P2|HIST
specifies the method that PROC MEANS uses to process the input data when it computes quantiles. If the number of observations is less than or equal to the QMARKERS= value and QNTLDEF=5, then both methods produce the same results.

-- OS uses order statistics. This method is the same method that PROC UNIVARIATE uses.

Note: This technique can be very memory-intensive.

-- P2|HIST uses the P² method to approximate the quantile.

Default: OS
Restriction: When QMETHOD=P2, PROC MEANS will not compute the following:
•MODE
•weighted quantiles

Tip: When QMETHOD=P2, reliable estimations of some quantiles (P1,P5,P95,P99) might not be possible for some data sets.


For more info, look at the documentation on quantiles:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/61895/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a000608466.htm#a00032...

cynthia