A computer program for estimating imprecision characteristics of immunoassays

A reliable numerical algorithm is described, together with a computer program written in FORTRAN IV and FORTRAN 77, for estimating a three-parameter variance function by approximate conditional likelihood. The function is sufficiently flexible to provide for a several thousand-fold relative change in variance and appears to be a good model for the severely heteroscedastic results obtained from immunoassays. The computer program is primarily intended for summarizing imprecision characteristics of immunoassays in the form of imprecision profiles, but the estimated variance functions have additional application whenever further parametric analysis of immunoassay results is undertaken (e.g., as a weighting function when immunoassay results are used in a least-squares regression analysis). The flexibility of the function implies useful application in any area where heteroscedasticity is particularly severe.