Homogeneity test, sample size determination and interval construction of difference of two proportions in stratified bilateral-sample designs

In stratified otolaryngologic (or ophthalmologic) studies, the misleading results may be obtained when ignoring the confounding effect and the correlation between responses from two ears. Score statistic and Wald-type statistic are presented to test equality in a stratified bilateral-sample design, and their corresponding sample size formulae are given. Score statistic for testing homogeneity of difference between two proportions and score confidence interval of the common difference of two proportions in a stratified bilateral-sample design are derived. Empirical results show that (1) score statistic and Wald-type statistic based on dependence model assumption outperform other statistics in terms of the type I error rates; (2) score confidence interval demonstrates reasonably good coverage property; (3) sample size formula via Wald-type statistic under dependence model assumption is rather accurate. A real example is used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.     

Testing the equality of two normal percentiles

Two statistics are suggested for testing the equality of two normal percentiles where population means and variances are unknown. The first is based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (LRT), the second on Cochran's statistic used in the Behrens-Fisher problem. Size and power comparisons are made by using simulation and asympototic theory.     

Testing equality of correlation coefficients for paired binary data from multiple groups

Paired binary data arise naturally when paired body parts are investigated in clinical trials. One of the widely used models for dealing with this kind of data is the equal correlation coefficients model. Before using this model, it is necessary to test whether the correlation coefficients in each group are actually equal. In this paper, three test statistics (likelihood ratio test, Wald-type test, and Score test) are derived for this purpose. The simulation results show that the Score test statistic maintains type I error rate and has satisfactory power, and therefore is recommended among the three methods. The likelihood ratio test is over conservative in most cases, and the Wald-type statistic is not robust with respect to empirical type I error. Three real examples, including a multi-centre Phase II double-blind placebo randomized controlled trial, are given to illustrate the three proposed test statistics.     

Notes on Test Homogeneity of the Odds Ratio in Matched Pairs Under Stratified Sampling: A Monte Carlo Evaluation

Using Monte Carlo simulation, we compare the performance of five asymptotic test procedures and a randomized permutation test procedure for testing the homogeneity of odds ratio under the stratified matched-pair design. We note that the weighted-least-square test procedure is liberal, while Pearson's goodness-of-fit (PGF) test procedure with the continuity correction is conservative. We note that PGF without the continuity correction, the conditional likelihood ratio test procedure, and the randomized permutation test procedure can generally perform well with respect to Type I error. We use the data taken from a case–control study regarding the endometrial cancer incidence published elsewhere to illustrate the use of these test procedures.     

Homogeneity Test of Risk Differences of Marginal and Conditional Probabilities in Several Incomplete Correlated 2 × 2 Tables

This article considers K pairs of incomplete correlated 2 × 2 tables in which the interesting measurement is the risk difference between marginal and conditional probabilities. A Wald-type statistic and a score-type statistic are presented to test the homogeneity hypothesis about risk differences across strata. Powers and sample size formulae based on the above two statistics are deduced. Figures about sample size against risk difference (or marginal probability) are given. A real example is used to illustrate the proposed methods.     

Testing for the parametric component of partially linear EV models under random censorship

This paper investigates the hypothesis test of the parametric component in partially linear errors-in-variables (EV) model with random censorship. We construct two test statistics based on the difference of the corrected residual sum of squares and empirical likelihood ratio under the null and alternative hypotheses. It is shown that the limiting distributions of the proposed test statistics are both weighted sum of independent standard chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom under the null hypothesis. Based on the adjusted test statistics, we further develop two new types of test procedures. Finite sample performance of the proposed test procedures is evaluated by extensive simulation studies.     

Hypothesis Testing for Various Familial Dependence Structures

This work compares various hypothesis testing procedures in the case of familial clustered data. Specifically, we use likelihood ratio and Wald's tests for maximum likelihood estimators, and Wald-type tests for moment and quasi-least squares estimators. Using simulations, we estimate significance levels for various hypotheses concerning the one-parent auto-regressive and two-parent equi-correlated dependence structures. We show that the likelihood ratio test performs best for certain simple hypotheses in the one-parent case, whereas the Wald-type test for the quasi-least squares procedure is optimal in the more complex two-parent case.     

The generalized inference on the sign testing problem about the normal variances

For the sign testing problem about the normal variances, we develop the heuristic testing procedure based on the concept of generalized test variable and generalized p-value. A detailed simulation study is conducted to empirically investigate the performance of the proposed method. Through the simulation study, especially in small sample sizes, the proposed test not only adequately controls empirical size at the nominal level, but also uniformly more powerful than likelihood ratio test, Gutmann's test, Li and Sinha's test and Liu and Chan's test, showing that the proposed method can be recommended in practice. The proposed method is illustrated with the published data.     

Modified likelihood ratio tests for unit gamma regressions

Regression analyses are commonly performed with doubly limited continuous dependent variables; for instance, when modeling the behavior of rates, proportions and income concentration indices. Several models are available in the literature for use with such variables, one of them being the unit gamma regression model. In all such models, parameter estimation is typically performed using the maximum likelihood method and testing inferences on the model''s parameters are usually based on the likelihood ratio test. Such a test can, however, deliver quite imprecise inferences when the sample size is small. In this paper, we propose two modified likelihood ratio test statistics for use with the unit gamma regressions that deliver much more accurate inferences when the number of data points in small. Numerical (i.e. simulation) evidence is presented for both fixed dispersion and varying dispersion models, and also for tests that involve nonnested models. We also present and discuss two empirical applications.     

Odds ratio for a single 2 × 2 table with correlated binomials for two margins

While analyzing 2 × 2 contingency tables, the log odds ratio for measuring the strength of association is often approximated by a normal distribution with some variance. We show that the expression of that variance needs to be modified in the presence of correlation between two binomial distributions of the contingency table. In the present paper, we derive a correlation-adjusted variance of the limiting normal distribution of log odds ratio. We also propose a correlation adjusted test based on the standard odds ratio for analyzing matched-pair studies and any other study settings that induce correlated binary outcomes. We demonstrate that our proposed test outperforms the classical McNemar’s test. Simulation studies show the gains in power are especially manifest when sample size is small and strong correlation is present. Two examples of real data sets are used to demonstrate that the proposed method may lead to conclusions significantly different from those reached using McNemar’s test.     

A comparison of tests of homogeneity for sparse contingency tables

Five tests of homogeneity for a 2x(k+l) contingency table are compared using Monte Carlo techniques. For these studiesit is assumed that k becomes large in such a way that thecontingency table is sparse for 2xk of the cells, but the sample size in two of the cells remains large. The test statistics studied are: the chi-square approximation to the Pearson test statistic, the chi-square approximation to the likelihood ratio statistic, the normal approximation to Zelterman's (1984)the normal approximation to Pearson's chi-square, and the normal approximation to the likelihood ratio statistic. For the range of parameters studied the chi-square approximation to Pearson's statistic performs consistently well with regard to its size and power.     

Testing linearity against nonlinear moving average models

Lagrange multiplier (LM) test statistics are derived for testing a linear moving average model against an asymmetric moving average model and an LM type test against an additive smooth transition moving average model. The latter model is introduced in the paper. The small sample performance of the proposed tests are evaluated in a Monte Carlo study and compared to Wald and likelihood ratio statistics. The size properties of the Lagrange multiplier test are better than those of other tests.     

Hypothesis Testing of Hazard Ratio Parameters in Marginal Models for Multivariate Failure Time Data

Marginal hazard models for multivariate failure time data have been studied extensively in recent literature. However, standard hypothesis test statistics based on the likelihood method are not exactly appropriate for this kind of model. In this paper, extensions of the three commonly used likelihood hypothesis test statistics are discussed. Generalized Wald, generalized score and generalized likelihood ratio tests for hazard ratio parameters in a marginal hazard model for multivariate failure time data are proposed and their asymptotic distributions examined. The finite sample properties of these statistics are studied through simulations. The proposed method is applied to data from Busselton Population Health Surveys.     

Testing the rate ratio under inverse sampling based on gradient statistic

Inverse sampling is widely applied in studies with dichotomous outcomes, especially when the subjects arrive sequentially or the response of interest is difficult to obtain. In this paper, we investigate the rate ratio test problem under inverse sampling based on gradient statistic with the asymptotic method and parametric bootstrap technique. The gradient statistic has many advantages, for example, it is simple to calculate and competitive with Wald-type, score and likelihood ratio tests in terms of local power. Numerical studies are carried out to evaluate the performance of our gradient test and the existing tests, namely Wald-type, score and likelihood ratio tests. The simulation results suggest that the gradient test based on the parametric bootstrap method has excellent type I error control and large powers even in small sample design. Two real examples, from a heart disease study and a drug comparison study, are applied to illustrate our methods.     

Confidence Intervals for Survival Probabilities: A Comparison Study

The confidence interval of the Kaplan–Meier estimate of the survival probability at a fixed time point is often constructed by the Greenwood formula. This normal approximation-based method can be looked as a Wald type confidence interval for a binomial proportion, the survival probability, using the “effective” sample size defined by Cutler and Ederer. Wald-type binomial confidence interval has been shown to perform poorly comparing to other methods. We choose three methods of binomial confidence intervals for the construction of confidence interval for survival probability: Wilson's method, Agresti–Coull's method, and higher-order asymptotic likelihood method. The methods of “effective” sample size proposed by Peto et al. and Dorey and Korn are also considered. The Greenwood formula is far from satisfactory, while confidence intervals based on the three methods of binomial proportion using Cutler and Ederer's “effective” sample size have much better performance.     

Inferences Concerning Exponential Distributions in the Presence of Randomly Right Censored Data with Missing Censored Values

Inferences concerning exponential distributions are considered from a sampling theory viewpoint when the data are randomly right censored and the censored values are missing. Both one-sample and m-sample (m 2) problems are considered. Likelihood functions are obtained for situations in which the censoring mechanism is informative which leads to natural and intuitively appealing estimators of the unknown proportions of censored observations. For testing hypotheses about the unknown parameters, three well-known test statistics, namely, likelihood ratio test, score test, and Wald-type test are considered.     

Bootstrap Bartlett correction in inflated beta regression

The inflated beta regression model aims to enable the modeling of responses in the intervals (0, 1], [0, 1), or [0, 1]. In this model, hypothesis testing is often performed based on the likelihood ratio statistic. The critical values are obtained from asymptotic approximations, which may lead to distortions of size in small samples. In this sense, this article proposes the bootstrap Bartlett correction to the statistic of likelihood ratio in the inflated beta regression model. The proposed adjustment only requires a simple Monte Carlo simulation. Through extensive Monte Carlo simulations the finite sample performance (size and power) of the proposed corrected test is compared to the usual likelihood ratio test and the Skovgaard adjustment already proposed in the literature. The numerical results evidence that inference based on the proposed correction is much more reliable than that based on the usual likelihood ratio statistics and the Skovgaard adjustment. At the end of the work, an application to real data is also presented.     

A partial score test for difference among heterogeneous populations

In event time data analysis, comparisons between distributions are made by the logrank test. When the data appear to contain crossing hazards phenomena, nonparametric weighted logrank statistics are usually suggested to accommodate different-weighted functions to increase the power. However, the gain in power by imposing different weights has its limits since differences before and after the crossing point may balance each other out. In contrast to the weighted logrank tests, we propose a score-type statistic based on the semiparametric-, heteroscedastic-hazards regression model of Hsieh [2001. On heteroscedastic hazards regression models: theory and application. J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. B 63, 63–79.], by which the nonproportionality is explicitly modeled. Our score test is based on estimating functions derived from partial likelihood under the heteroscedastic model considered herein. Simulation results show the benefit of modeling the heteroscedasticity and power of the proposed test to two classes of weighted logrank tests (including Fleming–Harrington's test and Moreau's locally most powerful test), a Renyi-type test, and the Breslow's test for acceleration. We also demonstrate the application of this test by analyzing actual data in clinical trials.     

Accurate tests for the equality of coefficients of variation

ABSTRACT

A frequently encountered statistical problem is to determine if the variability among k populations is heterogeneous. If the populations are measured using different scales, comparing variances may not be appropriate. In this case, comparing coefficient of variation (CV) can be used because CV is unitless. In this paper, a non-parametric test is introduced to test whether the CVs from k populations are different. With the assumption that the populations are independent normally distributed, the Miller test, Feltz and Miller test, saddlepoint-based test, log likelihood ratio test and the proposed simulated Bartlett-corrected log likelihood ratio test are derived. Simulation results show the extreme accuracy of the simulated Bartlett-corrected log likelihood ratio test if the model is correctly specified. If the model is mis-specified and the sample size is small, the proposed test still gives good results. However, with a mis-specified model and large sample size, the non-parametric test is recommended.     

Statistical inference of risk difference in K correlated 2×2 tables with structural zero

K correlated 2×2 tables with structural zero are commonly encountered in infectious disease studies. A hypothesis test for risk difference is considered in K independent 2×2 tables with structural zero in this paper. Score statistic, likelihood ratio statistic and Wald‐type statistic are proposed to test the hypothesis on the basis of stratified data and pooled data. Sample size formulae are derived for controlling a pre‐specified power or a pre‐determined confidence interval width. Our empirical results show that score statistic and likelihood ratio statistic behave better than Wald‐type statistic in terms of type I error rate and coverage probability, sample sizes based on stratified test are smaller than those based on the pooled test in the same design. A real example is used to illustrate the proposed methodologies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.