Indicators for democratic debate

One possible way for official statistics to become more useful and visible in public debate is to time the publication programme to match major events in society, such as local and general elections. Svein Longva , head of Statistics Norway, describes how, in the run-up to the last three Norwegian elections, Statistics Norway has published statistics and background analyses considered relevant to issues addressed in the election campaign. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and there have been no complaints that Statistics Norway interferes in the political debate or presents biased information.     

What matters most? Different stakeholder perspectives on estimands for an invented case study in COPD

In drug development, we ask ourselves which population, endpoint and treatment comparison should be investigated. In this context, we also debate what matters most to the different stakeholders that are involved in clinical drug development, for example, patients, physicians, regulators and payers. With the publication of draft ICH E9 addendum on estimands in 2017, we now have a common framework and language to discuss such questions in an informed and transparent way. This has led to the estimand discussion being a key element in study development, including design, analysis and interpretation of a treatment effect. At an invited session at the 2018 PSI annual conference, PSI hosted a role‐play debate where the aim of the session was to mimic a regulatory and payer scientific advice discussion for a COPD drug. Including role‐play views from an industry sponsor, a patient, a regulator and a payer. This paper presents the invented COPD case‐study design and considerations relating to appropriate estimands are discussed by each of the stakeholders from their differing viewpoints with the additional inclusion of a technical (academic) perspective. The rationale for each perspective on approaches for handling intercurrent events is presented, with a key emphasis on the application of while‐on‐treatment and treatment policy estimands in this context. It is increasingly recognised that the treatment effect estimated by the treatment policy approach may not always be of primary clinical interest and may not appropriately communicate to patients the efficacy they can expect if they take the treatment as directed.     

病种病例分型组合的医疗产出核算方法研究

根据SNA的划分,医疗卫生服务产出属于非市场产出。目前普遍采用投入法和传统的医疗指标为基础的产出法进行核算,而采用两种方法时都存在着诸多难以避免的缺陷。文章从“病种病例分型组合”的角度出发,结合医疗卫生的特点,提出了新的核算思想。     

Putting the P-Value in its Place

ABSTRACT

As the debate over best statistical practices continues in academic journals, conferences, and the blogosphere, working researchers (e.g., psychologists) need to figure out how much time and effort to invest in attending to experts' arguments, how to design their next project, and how to craft a sustainable long-term strategy for data analysis and inference. The present special issue of The American Statistician promises help. In this article, we offer a modest proposal for a continued and informed use of the conventional p-value without the pitfalls of statistical rituals. Other statistical indices should complement reporting, and extra-statistical (e.g., theoretical) judgments ought to be made with care and clarity.     

Are football referees really biased and inconsistent?: evidence on the incidence of disciplinary sanction in the English Premier League

Summary.  The paper presents a statistical analysis of patterns in the incidence of disciplinary sanction (yellow and red cards) that were taken against players in the English Premier League over the period 1996–2003. Several questions concerning sources of inconsistency and bias in refereeing standards are examined. Evidence is found to support a time consistency hypothesis, that the average incidence of disciplinary sanction is predominantly stable over time. However, a refereeing consistency hypothesis, that the incidence of disciplinary sanction does not vary between referees, is rejected. The tendency for away teams to incur more disciplinary points than home teams cannot be attributed to the home advantage effect on match results and appears to be due to a refereeing bias favouring the home team.     

Coupling methods in approximations

Let X and Y be two arbitrary k-dimensional discrete random vectors, for k ≥ 1. We prove that there exists a coupling method which minimizes P( X ≠ Y ). This result is used to find the least upper bound for the metric d( X, Y ) = sup_A|P( X ∈ A ) ? P( Y ∈ A )| and to derive the inequality d(Σ X _i, Σ Y _i) ≤ Σd( X _i, Y _i). We thus obtain a unified method to measure the disparity between the distributions of sums of independent random vectors. Several examples are given.     

Further Properties of Frequentist Confidence Intervals in Regression that Utilize Uncertain Prior Information

Consider a linear regression model with n‐dimensional response vector, regression parameter and independent and identically distributed errors. Suppose that the parameter of interest is where a is a specified vector. Define the parameter where c and t are specified. Also suppose that we have uncertain prior information that . Part of our evaluation of a frequentist confidence interval for is the ratio (expected length of this confidence interval)/(expected length of standard confidence interval), which we call the scaled expected length of this interval. We say that a confidence interval for utilizes this uncertain prior information if: (i) the scaled expected length of this interval is substantially less than 1 when ; (ii) the maximum value of the scaled expected length is not too much larger than 1; and (iii) this confidence interval reverts to the standard confidence interval when the data happen to strongly contradict the prior information. Kabaila and Giri (2009) present a new method for finding such a confidence interval. Let denote the least squares estimator of . Also let and . Using computations and new theoretical results, we show that the performance of this confidence interval improves as increases and decreases.     

Bayesian model comparison via parallel model output

Bayesian estimation via MCMC methods opens up new possibilities in estimating complex models. However, there is still considerable debate about how selection among a set of candidate models, or averaging over closely competing models, might be undertaken. This article considers simple approaches for model averaging and choice using predictive and likelihood criteria and associated model weights on the basis of output for models that run in parallel. The operation of such procedures is illustrated with real data sets and a linear regression with simulated data where the true model is known.     

Analyzing propensity matched zero-inflated count outcomes in observational studies

Determining the effectiveness of different treatments from observational data, which are characterized by imbalance between groups due to lack of randomization, is challenging. Propensity matching is often used to rectify imbalances among prognostic variables. However, there are no guidelines on how appropriately to analyze group matched data when the outcome is a zero-inflated count. In addition, there is debate over whether to account for correlation of responses induced by matching and/or whether to adjust for variables used in generating the propensity score in the final analysis. The aim of this research is to compare covariate unadjusted and adjusted zero-inflated Poisson models that do and do not account for the correlation. A simulation study is conducted, demonstrating that it is necessary to adjust for potential residual confounding, but that accounting for correlation is less important. The methods are applied to a biomedical research data set.     

Central Limit Theorems for Reduced U‐Statistics Under Dependence and Their Usefulness

A reduced ‐statistic is a ‐statistic with its summands drawn from a restricted but balanced set of pairs. In this article, central limit theorems are derived for reduced ‐statistics under ‐mixing, which significantly extends the work of Brown & Kildea in various aspects. It will be shown and illustrated that reduced ‐statistics are quite useful in deriving test statistics in various nonparametric testing problems.     

Does significance matter?

The name of this magazine was the subject of fierce debate. Although "significance" is a word often associated with statistics, it is very often misapplied or misunderstood. Its technical implications differ from the everyday use of the word and competing schools of thought within statistics have varying views on the correct usage. As the magazine is launched, R. Allan Reese examines some of these ideas from the viewpoint of a pragmatic data ­analyst.     

中国数字经济产业统计分类问题研究

数字经济在推动经济增长和转变人们生活方式方面发挥了重要作用,已成为推动中国经济高质量发展的“新引擎”。然而,中国数字经济统计研究明显滞后于数字经济发展实践,这不利于相关部门监测数字经济发展和科学制定政策。本文系统梳理了数字经济的概念演进以及经济合作与发展组织、美国经济分析局等国际组织和官方统计部门对数字经济相关产业的统计划分。结合中国已有相关统计分类标准,提出了中国数字经济产业统计分类,具体包括数字设备制造、数字信息传输、数字技术服务、数字内容与媒体、互联网应用及相关服务5个大类,共计22个中类、122个小类,并与国际上现有的相应产业分类进行了对比分析。本文可为官方统计机构建立数字经济产业统计分类标准、统计和发布相关统计数据提供理论参考。     

Bayesian Estimation and Prediction for the Beta-Binomial Model

The beta-binomial distribution, which is generated by a simple mixture model, has been widely applied in the social, physical, and health sciences. Problems of estimation, inference, and prediction have been addressed in the past, but not in a Bayesian framework. This article develops Bayesian procedures for the beta-binomial model and, using a suitable reparameterization, establishes a conjugate-type property for a beta family of priors. The transformed parameters have interesting interpretations, especially in marketing applications, and are likely to be more stable. More specifically, one of these parameters is the market share and the other is a measure of the heterogeneity of the customer population. Analytical results are developed for the posterior and prediction quantities, although the numerical evaluation is not trivial. Since the posterior moments are more easily calculated, we also propose the use of posterior approximation using the Pearson system. A particular case (when there are two trials), which occurs in taste testing, brand choice, media exposure, and some epidemiological applications, is analyzed in detail. Simulated and real data are used to demonstrate the feasibility of the calculations. The simulation results effectively demonstrate the superiority of Bayesian estimators, particularly in small samples, even with uniform (“non-informed”) priors. Naturally, “informed” priors can give even better results. The real data on television viewing behavior are used to illustrate the prediction results. In our analysis, several problems with the maximum likelihood estimators are encountered. The superior properties and performance of the Bayesian estimators and the excellent approximation results are strong indications that our results will be potentially of high value in small sample applications of the beta-binomial and in cases in which significant prior information exists.     

The mystery of the lost star: A statistical detective story

In July 2005 the Healthcare Commission released its annual "star ratings" for English National Health Service (NHS) trusts¹, in which acute or specialist hospitals, mental health services, ambulance services and primary care trusts were each given 0, 1, 2 or 3 stars. There was some surprise that the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (better known as Addenbrooke's Hospital) dropped from the 3 stars obtained in 2004 to 2 stars. David Spiegelhalter investigated .     

持续期间、交易量、波动率与知情交易

内容提要：Admati和Pfleiderer [1]认为交易强度的增加,可能来自于知情交易也可能来自于流动性交易。本文通过分析中国股票市场上持续期间、交易量和波动率之间的关系,提供了识别知情交易和流动性交易的证据。与国外相关研究结论均不同的是,本文的实证结果认为：波动率与持续期间之间存在非线性关系,交易量较小时,交易强度的增加主要来自于流动性交易;而交易量较大时,交易强度的增加主要来自于知情交易。最后,本文对以上实证结果进行了稳健性检验,通过分析波动率日内特征对实证结果的影响,本文还发现,中国股票市场的知情交易通常发生在刚开盘的阶段。     

Bastardy in the UK

Joseph Fletcher's monumental articles "Moral and educational statistics of England and Wales" were introduced as "a few facts illustrative of the moral and intellectual condition of the English people", but went on to 237 pages of analysis and discussion of data on, for example, education, crime, "improvident marriages", bastardy, pauperism and savings. The data are reported for individual counties and are notable for their illustration with early examples of shaded maps of relative rates.     

Marital disruption and economic well-being: a comparative analysis

Summary.  Though there is a considerable literature concerned with the economic consequences of marital breakdown, there is still substantial disagreement in terms of its magnitude. One of the major problems underlying this debate is how economic well-being is defined. We implement several measures of well-being of monetary and multidimensional nature by using data from the European Community Household Panel. Another issue in this literature concerns selection bias of divorcing couples. We tackle this issue by using a propensity score matching technique combined with a difference-in-differences estimator. Results confirm the importance of the definition of well-being. We find a strong gender bias when using monetary measures but a considerably lower bias, and for some countries non-existent, when using non-monetary indices.     

Variable Selection in Linear Mixed Models Using an Extended Class of Penalties

There is an emerging need to advance linear mixed model technology to include variable selection methods that can simultaneously choose and estimate important effects from a potentially large number of covariates. However, the complex nature of variable selection has made it difficult for it to be incorporated into mixed models. In this paper we extend the well known class of penalties and show that they can be integrated succinctly into a linear mixed model setting. Under mild conditions, the estimator obtained from this mixed model penalised likelihood is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. A simulation study reveals that the extended family of penalties achieves varying degrees of estimator shrinkage depending on the value of one of its parameters. The simulation study also shows there is a link between the number of false positives detected and the number of true coefficients when using the same penalty. This new mixed model variable selection (MMVS) technology was applied to a complex wheat quality data set to determine significant quantitative trait loci (QTL).     

关于小康社会的统计评价标准和监测方法探讨

为了顺利实现全面建设小康社会的奋斗目标 ,有必要提出全面小康社会的量化标准 ,并且进行有效监测 ,定期公布监测结果 ,让全国人民了解全面建设小康社会的具体进程。本文依据十六大精神 ,阐述了全面小康社会的科学内涵和特征 ;研究了建立全面小康社会评价标准的原则 ;提出了统计指标体系、指标临界值和评价方法。目的是希望通过研讨起抛砖引玉的作用 ,尽快完善全面小康社会的定量化标准和科学的评价方法 ,为全面建设小康社会服务。一、全面小康社会的科学内涵和基本特征　　量化标准应当以定性分析为基础。为此我们有必要深入研究小康社会的…     

The long-term pattern of adult mortality and the highest attained age

Recent new data on old age mortality point to a particular model for the way in which the probability of dying increases with age. The model is found to fit not only modern data but also some widely spaced historical data for the 19th and 17th centuries, and even some estimates for the early mediaeval period. The results show a pattern which calls for explanation. The model can also be used to predict a probability distribution for the highest age which will be attained in given circumstances. The results are relevant to the current debate about whether there is a fixed upper limit to the length of human life.