Some multivariate goodness-of-fit tests based on data depth

Based on data depth, three types of nonparametric goodness-of-fit tests for multivariate distribution are proposed in this paper. They are Pearson’s chi-square test, tests based on EDF and tests based on spacings, respectively. The Anderson–Darling (AD) test and the Greenwood test for bivariate normal distribution and uniform distribution are simulated. The results of simulation show that these two tests have low type I error rates and become more efficient with the increase in sample size. The AD-type test performs more powerfully than the Greenwood type test.     

Assessing the fit of finite mixture distributions

Mixture distributions have become a very flexible and common class of distributions, used in many different applications, but hardly any literature can be found on tests for assessing their goodness of fit. We propose two types of smooth tests of goodness of fit for mixture distributions. The first test is a genuine smooth test, and the second test makes explicit use of the mixture structure. In a simulation study the tests are compared to some traditional goodness of fit tests that, however, are not customised for mixture distributions. The first smooth test has overall good power and generally outperforms the other tests. The second smooth test is particularly suitable for assessing the fit of each component distribution separately. The tests are applicable to both continuous and discrete distributions and they are illustrated on three medical data sets.     

Methods for testing subblock patterns

A number of statistical tests have been recommended over the last twenty years for assessing the randomness of long binary strings used in cryptographic algorithms. Several of these tests include methods of examining subblock patterns. These tests are the uniformity test, the universal test and the repetition test. The effectiveness of these tests are compared based on the subblock length, the limitations on data requirements, and on their power in detecting deviations from randomness. Due to the complexity of the test statistics, the power functions are estimated by simulation methods. The results show that for small subblocks the uniformity test is more powerful than the universal test, and that there is some doubt about the parameters of the hypothesised distribution for the universal test statistic. For larger subblocks the results show that the repetition test is the most effective test, since it requires far less data than either of the other two tests and is an efficient test in detecting deviations from randomness in binary strings.     

Power studies of tests for uniformity,II

Results from a power study of six statistics for testing that a sample is from a uniform distribution on the unit interval (0,1) are reported. The test statistics are all well-known and each of them was originally proposed because they should have high power against some alternative distributions. The tests considered are the Pearson probability product test, the Neyman smooth test, the Sukhatme test, the Durbin-Kolmogorov test, the Kuiper test, and the Sherman test. Results are given for each of these tests against each of four classes of alternatives. Also, the most powerful test against each member of the first three alternatives is obtained, and the powers of these tests are given for the same sample sizes as for the six general "omnibus" test statistics. These values constitute a "power envelope" against which all tests can be compared. The Neyman smooth tests with 2nd and 4th degree polynomials are found to have good power and are recommended as general tests for uniformity.     

Nonparametric two-sample tests for dispersion differences based on placements

Two different two-sample tests for dispersion differences based on placement statistics are proposed. The means and variances of the test statistics are derived, and asymptotic normality is established for both. Variants of the proposed tests based on reversing the X and Y labels in the test statistic calculations are shown to have different small-sample properties; for both pairs of tests, one member of the pair will be resolving, the other nonresolving. The proposed tests are similar in spirit to the dispersion tests of both Mood and Hollander; comparative simulation results for these four tests are given. For small sample sizes, the powers of the proposed tests are approximately equal to the powers of the tests of both Mood and Hollander for samples from the normal, Cauchy and exponential distributions. The one-sample limiting distributions are also provided, yielding useful approximations to the exact tests when one sample is much larger than the other. A bootstrap test may alternatively be performed. The proposed test statistics may be used with lightly censored data by substituting Kaplan-Meier estimates for the empirical distribution functions.     

Confidence intervals and tests on the variance ratio in random models with two variance components

The LM test is modified to test any value of the ratio of two variance components in a mixed effects linear model with two variance components. The test is exact, so it can be used to construct exact confidence intervals on this ratio.Exact Neyman-Pearson (NP) tests on the variance ratio are described.Their powers provide attainable upper bounds on powers of tests on the variance ratio.Efficiencies of LM tests, which include ANOVA tests, and NP tests are compared for unbalanced, random, one-way ANOVA models.Confidence intervals corresponding to LM tests and NP tests are described.     

A class of distribution-free tests for the two-sample slippage problem

A class of distribution-free tests for the two-sample slippage problem, when the random variables take only nonnegative values, is proposed. These tests are consistent and unbiased against the general slippage alternative. Recurrence relations for generating small sample significance points are given. The tests have been compared with the Savage test, the Wilcoxon test and the appropriate locally most powerful rank test by considering Pitman asymptotic relative efficiencies for several alternative hypotheses. Some of these tests exhibit considerable robustness in terms of efficiency for the various alternative hypotheses which are considered.     

Testing normalization and overidentification of cointegrating vectors in vector autoregressive processes

This paper develops test procedures for testing the validity of general linear identifying restrictions imposed on cointegrating vectors in the context of a vector autoregressive model. In addition to overidentifying restrictions the considered restrictions may also involve normalizing restrictions. Tests for both types of restrictions are developed and their asymptotic properties are obtained. Under the null hypothesis tests for normalizing restrictions have an asymptotic "multivariate unit root distribution", similar to that obtained for the likelihood ratio test for cointegration, while tests for overidentifying restrictions have a standard chi-square limiting distribution. Since these two types of tests are asymptotically independent they are easy to cotnbine to an overall test for the spccifed identifying restrictions. An overall test of this kind can consistently reveal the failure of the identifying restrictions in a wider class of cases than previous tests which only test for overidentifying restrictions.     

Simple Tests for Exogeneity of a Binary Explanatory Variable in Count Data Regression Models

This article investigates power and size of some tests for exogeneity of a binary explanatory variable in count models by conducting extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The tests under consideration are Hausman contrast tests as well as univariate Wald tests, including a new test of notably easy implementation. Performance of the tests is explored under misspecification of the underlying model and under different conditions regarding the instruments. The results indicate that often the tests that are simpler to estimate outperform tests that are more demanding. This is especially the case for the new test.     

A maxmin linear test of normal means and its application to lachin’s data

For stochastic ordering tests for normal distributions there exist two well known types of tests. One of them is based on the maximum likelihood ratio principle, the other is the most stringent somewhere most powerful test of Schaafsma and Smid(for a comprehensive treatment see Robertson, Wright and Dykstra(1988), for the latter test also Shi and Kudo(1987)). All these tests are in general numerically tedious. Wei, Lachin(1984)and particularly Lachin(1992)formulate a simple and easily computable test. However, it is not known so far for which sort of ordered alternatives his test is optimal

In this paper it is shown that his procedure is a maxmin test for reasonable subalternatives, provided the covariance matrix has nonnegative row sums. If this property is violated then his procedure can be altered in such a manner that the resul ting test again is a maxmin test. An example is glven where the modified procedure even in the least favourable case leads to a nontrifling increase in power. The fact that Lachins test resp. the modified version are maxmin tests on appropriate subalternatives amounts to the property that they are maxmin tests on subhypotheses which are relevant in practical applications.     

Exact tests based on the Baumgartner-Weiß-Schindler statistic—A survey

It is the purpose of this paper to review recently-proposed exact tests based on the Baumgartner-Weiß-Schindler statistic and its modification. Except for the generalized Behrens-Fisher problem, these tests are broadly applicable, and they can be used to compare two groups irrespective of whether or not ties occur. In addition, a nonparametric trend test and a trend test for binomial proportions are possible. These exact tests are preferable to commonly-applied tests, such as the Wilcoxon rank sum test, in terms of both type I error rate and power.     

Evaluation of three lack of fit tests in linear regression models

A key diagnostic in the analysis of linear regression models is whether the fitted model is appropriate for the observed data. The classical lack of fit test is used for testing the adequacy of a linear regression model when replicates are available. While many efforts have been made in finding alternative lack of fit tests for models without replicates, this paper focuses on studying the efficacy of three tests: the classical lack of fit test, Utts' (1982) test, Burn & Ryan's (1983) test. The powers of these tests are computed for a variety of situations. Comments and conclusions on the overall performance of these tests are made, including recommendations for future studies.     

Comparisons of the asymptotic efficiencies of two sample tests for discrete distributions

The asymptotic efficiencies are computed for several popular two sample rank tests when the underlying distributions are Poisson, binomial, discrete uniform, and negative binomial The rank tests examined include the Mann-Whitney test, the van der Waerden test, and the median test. Three methods for handling ties are discussed and compared. The computed asymptotic efficiencies apply also to the k-sample extensions of the above tests, such as the Kruskal-Wallis test, etc.     

A comparison of some conditional and unconditional exact tests for 2x2 contingency tables

In 1935, R.A. Fisher published his well-known “exact” test for 2x2 contingency tables. This test is based on the conditional distribution of a cell entry when the rows and columns marginal totals are held fixed. Tocher (1950) and Lehmann (1959) showed that Fisher s test, when supplemented by randomization, is uniformly most powerful among all the unbiased tests UMPU). However, since all the practical tests for 2x2 tables are nonrandomized - and therefore biased the UMPU test is not necessarily more powerful than other tests of the same or lower size. Inthis work, the two-sided Fisher exact test and the UMPU test are compared with six nonrandomized unconditional exact tests with respect to their power. In both the two-binomial and double dichotomy models, the UMPU test is often less powerful than some of the unconditional tests of the same (or even lower) size. Thus, the assertion that the Tocher-Lehmann modification of Fisher's conditional test is the optimal test for 2x2 tables is unjustified.     

Unbiased goodness-of-fit tests

Familiar distribution-free goodness-of-fit tests like the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test are all biased tests. In this paper, we show how to compute the bias of any distribution-free goodness-of-fit test that corresponds to a distribution-free confidence band for the cumulative distribution function (CDF). The bias of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test turns out to be smaller than the biases of other distribution-free goodness-of-fit tests. We also develop a method for obtaining unbiased goodness-of-fit tests, which can then be inverted to obtain unbiased confidence bands for the CDF. Interestingly, only a discrete set of levels are available for the unbiased tests. Our power comparisons show that while removing bias improves the power of a test at some alternatives, it does not improve the overall power properties of the test.     

Wavelet Estimation of an Unknown Function Observed with Correlated Noise

Tests based on rank statistics are introduced to test for systematic changes in a sequence of independent observations. Proposed tests include a rank test analogous to the parametric likelihood ratio test and others analogous to parametric Bayes tests. The tests are usable with either one- or two-sided alternative hypotheses, and their asymptotic distributions are studied. The results of the general model are applied to two special cases, and their asymptotic distributions are also investigated. A Monte Carlo study verifies the applicability of asymptotic critical points in samples of moderate size, and other simulation studies compare power of the competing tests and their special-case versions. Finally, these tests are applied to a data set of traffic fatalities.     

Nonparametric tests for multivariate multi-sample locations based on data depth

Several nonparametric tests for multivariate multi-sample location problem are proposed in this paper. These tests are based on the notion of data depth, which is used to measure the centrality/outlyingness of a given point with respect to a given distribution or a data cloud. Proposed tests are completely nonparametric and implemented through the idea of permutation tests. Performance of the proposed tests is compared with existing parametric test and nonparametric test based on data depth. An extensive simulation study reveals that proposed tests are superior to the existing tests based on data depth with regard to power. Illustrations with real data are provided.     

Some count-based nonparametric tests for circular symmetry of a bivariate distribution

In this paper, we revisit the problem of testing of the hypothesis of circular symmetry of a bivariate distribution. We propose some nonparametric tests based on sector counts. These include tests based on chi-square goodness-of-fit test, the classical likelihood ratio, mean deviation, and the range. The proposed tests are easy to implement and the exact null distributions for small sample sizes of the test statistics are obtained. Two examples with small and large data sets are given to illustrate the application of the tests proposed. For small and moderate sample sizes, the performances of the proposed tests are evaluated using empirical powers (empirical sizes are also reported). Also, we evaluate the performance of these count-based tests with adaptations of several well-known tests such as the Kolmogorov–Smirnov-type tests, tests based on kernel density estimator, and the Wilcoxon-type tests. It is observed that among the count-based tests the likelihood ratio test performs better.     

Robustness and power of modified Lepage,Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Crame´r-von Mises two-sample tests

For the two-sample problem with location and/or scale alternatives, as well as different shapes, several statistical tests are presented, such as of Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cramér-von Mises type for the general alternative, and such as of Lepage type for location and scale alternatives. We compare these tests with the t-test and other location tests, such as the Welch test, and also the Levene test for scale. It turns out that there is, of course, no clear winner among the tests but, for symmetric distributions with the same shape, tests of Lepage type are the best ones whereas, for different shapes, Cramér-von Mises type tests are preferred. For extremely right-skewed distributions, a modification of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test should be applied.     

Monte carlo sampling approach to testing nonnested hypothesis: monte carlo results

Alternative ways of using Monte Carlo methods to implement a Cox-type test for separate families of hypotheses are considered. Monte Carlo experiments are designed to compare the finite sample performances of Pesaran and Pesaran's test, a RESET test, and two Monte Carlo hypothesis test procedures. One of the Monte Carlo tests is based on the distribution of the log-likelihood ratio and the other is based on an asymptotically pivotal statistic. The Monte Carlo results provide strong evidence that the size of the Pesaran and Pesaran test is generally incorrect, except for very large sample sizes. The RESET test has lower power than the other tests. The two Monte Carlo tests perform equally well for all sample sizes and are both clearly preferred to the Pesaran and Pesaran test, even in large samples. Since the Monte Carlo test based on the log-likelihood ratio is the simplest to calculate, we recommend using it.