逐步回归的基本思想是将变量逐个引入模型，每引入一个解释变量后都要进行F检验，并对已经选入的解释变量逐个进行t检验，当原来引入的解释变量由于后面解释变量的引入变得不再显著时，则将其删除。以确保每次引入新的变量之前回归方程中只包含显著性变量。这是一个反复的过程，直到既没有显著的解释变量选入回归方程，也没有不显著的解释变量从回归方程中剔除为止。以保证最后所得到的解释变量集是最优的。(In statistics, stepwise regression is a method of fitting regression models in which the choice of predictive variables is carried out by an automatic procedure.[1][2][3][4] In each step, a variable is considered for addition to or subtraction from the set of explanatory variables based on some prespecified criterion. Usually, this takes the form of a sequence of F-tests or t-tests, but other techniques are possible, such as adjusted R2, Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, Mallows's Cp, PRESS, or false discovery rate.)