Stata

EM Imputation and Missing Data: Is Mean Imputation Really so Terrible?

April 15th, 2009 by

I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you all the problems that occur as a result of missing data.  Anyone who has dealt with missing data—that means everyone who has ever worked with real data—knows about the loss of power and sample size, and the potential bias in your data that comes with listwise deletion.

stage-3

Listwise deletion is the default method for dealing with missing data in most statistical software packages.  It simply means excluding from the analysis any cases with data missing on any variables involved in the analysis.

A very simple, and in many ways appealing, method devised to (more…)


SPSS, SAS, R, Stata, JMP? Choosing a Statistical Software Package or Two

March 16th, 2009 by

In addition to the five listed in this title, there are quite a few other options, so how do you choose which statistical software to use?

The default is to use whatever software they used in your statistics class–at least you know the basics.

And this might turn out pretty well, but chances are it will fail you at some point. Many times the stat package used in a class is chosen for its shallow learning curve, (more…)


The Exposure Variable in Poisson Regression Models

January 23rd, 2009 by

Poisson Regression Models and its extensions (Zero-Inflated Poisson, Negative Binomial Regression, etc.) are used to model counts and rates. A few examples of count variables include:

– Number of words an eighteen month old can say

– Number of aggressive incidents performed by patients in an impatient rehab center

Most count variables follow one of these distributions in the Poisson family. Poisson regression models allow researchers to examine the relationship between predictors and count outcome variables.

Using these regression models gives much more accurate parameter (more…)