Table 1

Average Type I error rate (empirical α) when nominal α is 0.05

Set Size
True mean log-ratio of genes in the set
Standard deviation of log-ratios of genes in the set
GSEA-NR
ABSSUM-NR
SUMSQ-NR
SUM-NR
MAX-MEAN-NR
FET 1/2
FET 1
FET 2
FET 3

2–5 genes
0
0.01–0.05
0.0005
0
0
0.056
0
0
0
0
0


0.10–0.20
0.005
0.001
0.0006
0.058
0.002
0.0004
0
0
0

± 0.05
0.01–0.05
0.02
0
0
0.056
0
0
0
0
0


0.10–0.20
0.01
0.002
0.0008
0.06
0.003
0.0005
0
0
0
10 or more genes
0
0.01–0.05
0.29
0
0
0.13
0
0
0
0
0


0.10–0.20
0.03
0.004
0
0.14
0.0005
0.0001
0
0
0

± 0.05
0.01–0.05
0.45
0
0
0.15
0
0
0
0
0


0.10–0.20
0.08
0.006
0
0.15
0.004
0.0002
0
0
0

Tintle et al. BMC Bioinformatics 2008 9:469   doi:10.1186/1471-2105-9-469