# Why the variance of the ANOVA residuals increases as the sample size grows?

Consider a standard oneway ANOVA model given by $$Y_{ij}=\theta_i+\varepsilon_{ij}$$ for $$i=1,\ldots,k$$ and $$j=1,\ldots,n_i$$, where $$\varepsilon_{ij}$$ are iid $$N(0,\sigma^2)$$ random variables. The residuals are defined as $$e_{ij}=Y_{ij}-\frac1{n_i}\sum_{k=1}^{n_i}Y_{ik}$$ for $$i=1,\ldots,k$$ and $$j=1,\ldots,n_i$$. The variance of the residuals is given by $$\operatorname{Var}e_{ij} =\sigma^2\Bigl(1-\frac1{n_i}\Bigr).$$ This means that the variance of the residuals increases if we increase the sample size $$n_i$$. Since the residuals $$e_{ij}$$ essentially estimate the errors $$\varepsilon_{ij}$$, I would expect the variance of the residuals to be larger than $$\sigma^2$$ and get closer and closer to $$\sigma^2$$ as the sample size $$n_i$$ increases. So the expression of the $$\operatorname{Var}e_{ij}$$ seems counterintuitive to me.

Why the variance of the residuals increases as the sample size $$n_i$$ grows?

Any help is much appreciated!

• You are making a critical derivation after part 2. The key equation is $\text{var}(A-B) = \text{var}(A) + \text{var}(B) - 2 \text{cov}(A, B)$. May 14 at 19:16
• @AdamO Are you saying that the expression of the variance is incorrect? May 14 at 19:18
• Absolutely 100%. The expression you have is the variance of a prediction. May 14 at 19:20
• Another error you are making is not calculating the variance of a sum correctly. $\text{var} \sum_{i=1}^n Y_i = n \sigma^2$ for $Y_i$ iid with variance $\sigma^2$. May 14 at 19:22
• @AdamO If $e_{ij}$'s are defined as $Y_{ij}-n_i^{-1}\sum_{k=1}^{n_i}Y_{ik}$, then the variance is equal to $\sigma^2(1-1/n_i)$. The same expression is given on page 776 of Applied Linear Statistical Models by Kutner et al. I am not asking if the expression is correct. It is correct. I am trying to intuitively understand why the variance increases as the sample size grows. May 14 at 19:23

I think the key idea is that the variation of the $$y_i$$ around the sample mean $$\bar y$$ is less than around the true mean of $$\theta$$, since the sample mean is the minimizer of $$\sum_{i=1}^n (y_i - c)^2$$ over $$c \in \mathbb R$$. This is why $$\text{Var}(e_i) < \text{Var}(\e_i)$$. But as $$n\to\infty$$ we'll have $$\bar y \to_{\text{as}} \theta$$ so the variation of $$y_i$$ around $$\bar y$$ approaches the variation of $$y_i$$ around $$\theta$$, which is precisely $$\e$$. That's why $$\text{Var}(e_i)\nearrow\text{Var}(\e_i)$$.
Another aspect is that the residuals are not independent as $$\text{Cov}(e_i,e_j) = -\sigma^2/n$$ for $$i\neq j$$. This is because they are constrained to a subspace (the space orthogonal to $$\one$$, in this case) so knowing what $$e_1$$ is, say, reduces the possible variability in $$e_j$$ for $$j\neq 1$$. This effect also decreases with $$n$$ and the residuals are increasingly independent (since they're multivariate Gaussian here; more generally, they'll be increasingly uncorrelated).