Analysing exponential family based messy data

Recently exponential family based random effects models have received considerable attention. These models usually arise from an unobservable random process added to the independent exponential family models. An unobservable correlated process, however, would cause correlations among the exponential family based data. This paper, first, develops an asymptotically optimal test for testing the appropriateness of a fixed effects model for the exponential family based independent data versus a random effects model for the exponential family based independent or correlated data. The paper, then, provides a general framework on regression analysis for the exponential family based data generated under the random effects models.