Multivariate methods in rehabilitation

The complexity of relationships between variables in a variety of rehabilitation settings can be appropriately addressed by the use of multivariate methods of statistical analysis. The purpose of this article is to describe (a) some basic concepts and principles of multivariate methods as well as (b) common misconceptions in the application of such methods. Specifically, the authors focus on the use of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) in rehabilitation research and some pitfalls that rehabilitation researchers face when choosing between MANOVA for a set of outcome variables versus separate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) for each outcome variable. Examples of the use of MANOVA in rehabilitation research, as well as references to other multivariate methods, are also provided.