# Statistics > Analysis of Variance

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests the equality of three or more population means by analyzing sample variances. It compares two different estimates of the variance common to the different populations. The utilities in this menu perform one-way ANOVA, where only one characteristic (also referred to as factor or treatment) is used to categorize the populations, and two-way ANOVA, where data are categorized into groups according to two factors.