Extending permutation conditional inference to unconditional ones

In this presentation we discuss the extension of permutation conditional inferences to unconditional or population ones. Within the parametric approach this extension is possible when the data set is randomly selected by well-designed sampling procedures on well-defined population distributions, provided that their nuisance parameters have boundely complete statistics in the null hypothesis or are provided with invariant statistics. When these conditions fail, especially if selection-bias procedures are used for data collection processes, in general most of the parametric inferential extensions are wrong or misleading. We will see that, since they are provided with similarity and conditional unbiasedness properties and if correctly applicable, permutation tests may extend, at least in a weak sense, conditional to unconditional inferences.     

Testing nonparametric statistical functionals with applications to rank tests

The present paper discusses how nonparametric tests can be deduced from statistical functionals. Efficient and asymptotically most powerful maximin tests are derived. Their power function is calculated under implicit alternatives given by the functional for one – and two – sample testing problems. It is shown that the asymptotic power function does not depend on the special implicit direction of the alternatives but only on quantities of the functional. The present approach offers a nonparametric principle how to construct common rank tests as the Wilcoxon test, the log rank test, and the median test from special two-sample functionals. In addition it is shown that studentized permutation tests yield asymptotically valid tests for certain extended null hypotheses given by functionals which are strictly larger than the common i.i.d. null hypothesis. As example tests concerning the von Mises functional and the Wilcoxon two-sample test are treated.     

Nonparametric test for the homogeneity of the overall variability

In this paper, we propose a nonparametric test for homogeneity of overall variabilities for two multi-dimensional populations. Comparisons between the proposed nonparametric procedure and the asymptotic parametric procedure and a permutation test based on standardized generalized variances are made when the underlying populations are multivariate normal. We also study the performance of these test procedures when the underlying populations are non-normal. We observe that the nonparametric procedure and the permutation test based on standardized generalized variances are not as powerful as the asymptotic parametric test under normality. However, they are reliable and powerful tests for comparing overall variability under other multivariate distributions such as the multivariate Cauchy, the multivariate Pareto and the multivariate exponential distributions, even with small sample sizes. A Monte Carlo simulation study is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed procedures. An example from an educational study is used to illustrate the proposed nonparametric test.     

Union–intersection permutation solution for two-sample equivalence testing

One of the well-known problems with testing for sharp null hypotheses against two-sided alternatives is that, when sample sizes diverge, every consistent test rejects the null with a probability converging to one, even when it is true. This kind of problem emerges in practically all applications of traditional two-sided tests. The main purpose of the present paper is to overcome this very intriguing impasse by considering a general solution to the problem of testing for an equivalence null interval against a two one-sided alternative. Our goal is to go beyond the limitations of likelihood-based methods by working in a nonparametric permutation framework. This solution requires the nonparameteric Combination of dependent permutation tests, which is the methodological tool that achieves Roy’s Union–intersection principle. To obtain practical solutions, the related algorithm is presented. To appreciate its effectiveness for practical purposes, a simple example and some simulation results are also presented. In addition, for every pair of consistent partial test statistics it is proved that, if sample sizes diverge, when the effect lies in the open equivalence interval, the Rejection probability (RP) converges to zero. Analogously, if the effect lies outside that interval, the RP converges to one.     

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.     

Generalized likelihood ratio tests for the structure of semiparametric additive models

Semiparametric additive models (SAMs) are very useful in multivariate nonparametric regression. In this paper, the authors study nonparametric testing problems for the nonparametric components of SAMs. Using the backfitting algorithm and the local polynomial smoothing technique, they extend to SAMs the generalized likelihood ratio tests of Fan &Jiang (2005). The authors show that the proposed tests possess the Wilks‐type property and that they can detect alternatives nearing the null hypothesis with a rate arbitrarily close to root‐n while error distributions are unspecified. They report simulations which demonstrate the Wilks phenomenon and the powers of their tests. They illustrate the performance of their approach by simulation and using the Boston housing data set.     

Testing lack of fit of regression models under heteroscedasticity

A test is proposed for assessing the lack of fit of heteroscedastic nonlinear regression models that is based on comparison of nonparametric kernel and parametric fits. A data-driven method is proposed for bandwidth selection using the asymptotically optimal bandwidth of the parametric null model which leads to a test that has a limiting normal distribution under the null hypothesis and is consistent against any fixed alternative. The resulting test is applied to the problem of testing the lack of fit of a generalized linear model.     

Some new results on univariate and multivariate permutation tests for ordinal categorical variables under restricted alternatives

In several sciences, especially when dealing with performance evaluation, complex testing problems may arise due in particular to the presence of multidimensional categorical data. In such cases the application of nonparametric methods can represent a reasonable approach. In this paper, we consider the problem of testing whether a “treatment” is stochastically larger than a “control” when univariate and multivariate ordinal categorical data are present. We propose a solution based on the nonparametric combination of dependent permutation tests (Pesarin in Multivariate permutation test with application to biostatistics. Wiley, Chichester, 2001), on variable transformation, and on tests on moments. The solution requires the transformation of categorical response variables into numeric variables and the breaking up of the original problem’s hypotheses into partial sub-hypotheses regarding the moments of the transformed variables. This type of problem is considered to be almost impossible to analyze within likelihood ratio tests, especially in the multivariate case (Wang in J Am Stat Assoc 91:1676–1683, 1996). A comparative simulation study is also presented along with an application example.     

Nonparametric Covariate-Adjusted Association Tests Based on the Generalized Kendall's Tau()

Identifying the risk factors for comorbidity is important in psychiatric research. Empirically, studies have shown that testing multiple, correlated traits simultaneously is more powerful than testing a single trait at a time in association analysis. Furthermore, for complex diseases, especially mental illnesses and behavioral disorders, the traits are often recorded in different scales such as dichotomous, ordinal and quantitative. In the absence of covariates, nonparametric association tests have been developed for multiple complex traits to study comorbidity. However, genetic studies generally contain measurements of some covariates that may affect the relationship between the risk factors of major interest (such as genes) and the outcomes. While it is relatively easy to adjust these covariates in a parametric model for quantitative traits, it is challenging for multiple complex traits with possibly different scales. In this article, we propose a nonparametric test for multiple complex traits that can adjust for covariate effects. The test aims to achieve an optimal scheme of adjustment by using a maximum statistic calculated from multiple adjusted test statistics. We derive the asymptotic null distribution of the maximum test statistic, and also propose a resampling approach, both of which can be used to assess the significance of our test. Simulations are conducted to compare the type I error and power of the nonparametric adjusted test to the unadjusted test and other existing adjusted tests. The empirical results suggest that our proposed test increases the power through adjustment for covariates when there exist environmental effects, and is more robust to model misspecifications than some existing parametric adjusted tests. We further demonstrate the advantage of our test by analyzing a data set on genetics of alcoholism.     

A resampling procedure for nonparametric combination of several dependent tests

Summary This paper deals with nonparametric methods for combining dependent permutation or randomization tests. Particularly, they are nonparametric with respect to the underlying dependence structure. The methods are based on a without replacement resampling procedure (WRRP) conditional on the observed data, also called conditional simulation, which provide suitable estimates, as good as computing time permits, of the permutational distribution of any statistic. A class C of combining functions is characterized in such a way that all its members, under suitable and reasonable conditions, are found to be consistent and unbiased. Moreover, for some of its members, their almost sure asymptotic equivalence with respect to best tests, in particular cases, is shown. An applicational example to a multivariate permutationalt-paired test is also discussed.     

A general theory of hypothesis testing based on rankings

In nonparametric statistics, a hypothesis testing problem based on the ranks of the data gives rise to two separate permutation sets corresponding to the null and to the alternative hypothesis, respectively. A modification of Critchlow's unified approach to hypothesis testing is proposed. By defining the distance between permutation sets to be the average distance between pairs of permutations, one from each set, various test statistics are derived for the multi-sample location problem and the two-way layout. The asymptotic distributions of the test statistics are computed under both the null and alternative hypotheses. Some comparisons are made on the basis of the asymptotic relative efficiency.     

Multivariate Tests of Mean-Variance Efficiency and Spanning With a Large Number of Assets and Time-Varying Covariances

We develop a finite-sample procedure to test the mean-variance efficiency and spanning hypotheses, without imposing any parametric assumptions on the distribution of model disturbances. In so doing, we provide an exact distribution-free method to test uniform linear restrictions in multivariate linear regression models. The framework allows for unknown forms of nonnormalities as well as time-varying conditional variances and covariances among the model disturbances. We derive exact bounds on the null distribution of joint F statistics to deal with the presence of nuisance parameters, and we show how to implement the resulting generalized nonparametric bounds tests with Monte Carlo resampling techniques. In sharp contrast to the usual tests that are not even computable when the number of test assets is too large, the power of the proposed test procedure potentially increases along both the time and cross-sectional dimensions.     

Tests based on weighted rankings in complete blocks: exact distribution and monte carlo simulation

Quade (1972, 1979) proposed a family of nonparametric tests based on weighted within-block rankings, for testing the hypothesis of no treatment effects in a complete randomized blocks layout. In this paper we give a table of the exact null distribution of these tests when the number of treatments is 3, the number of blocks is less than or equal to 14 and the block scores are linear. Moreover, a Monte Carlo study was performed to compare the powers of these tests with parametric and nonparametric competitors     

A Nonparametric Test Procedure Based on a Group of Quantile Tests

In this article, we consider nonparametric test procedures based on a group of quantile test statistics. We consider the quadratic form for the two-sided test and the maximal and summing types of statistics for the one-sided alternatives. Then we derive the null limiting distributions of the proposed test statistics using the large sample approximation theory. Also, we consider applying the permutation principle to obtain the null distribution. In this vein, we may consider the supremum type, which should use the permutation principle for obtaining the null distribution. Then we illustrate our procedure with an example and compare the proposed tests with other existing tests including the individual quantile tests by obtaining empirical powers through simulation study. Also, we comment on the related discussions to this testing procedure as concluding remarks. Finally we prove the lemmas and theorems in the appendices.     

Nonparametric Tests for Comparing Several Coefficients of Variation

We consider the problem of comparing (k + 1) coefficients of variation. We are interested in testing the null hypothesis that the coefficients of variation are equal against each of the alternatives: (a) some populations have different coefficients of variation and (b) the coefficients of variation are ordered. Three nonparametric test statistics are proposed and their asymptotic theory is developed. We compared the proposed tests together with another parametric test using two Monte Carlo studies to estimate their probabilities of Type I error and powers. An illustration of the proposed tests using a real data set is given.     

On the theory of modified randomization tests for nonparametric hypotheses

A general randomization test for nonparametric hypotheses which is a modification of permutation tests in proposed. The exact level of the test is derived and under mild gegularity conditions, a general result on the consistency of the power function is obtained. Applications to several testing problems are considered. Asymptotic expansions of the power of this test are derived with respect to contiguous alternatives thus test are derived with respect to contiguous alternatives thus enabling us to make deficiency comparisons with permutation tests. The paper concludes with some Monte Carlo simulations verifying the theoretical results derived.     

Comparison of Nonparametric and Parametric Methods in Repeated Measures Designs - A Simulation Study

This study investigates the performance of parametric and nonparametric tests to analyze repeated measures designs. Both multivariate normal and exponential distributions were simulated for varying values of the correlation and ten or twenty subjects within each cell. For multivariate normal distributions, the type I error rates were lower than the usual 0.05 level for nonparametric tests, whereas the parametric tests without the Greenhouse-Geisser or the Huynh-Feldt adjustment produced slightly higher type I error rates. Type I error rates for nonparametric tests, for multivariate exponential distributions, were more stable than parametric, Greenhouse-Geisser or Huynh-Feldt adjusted tests. For ten subjects within each cell, the parametric tests were more powerful than nonparametric tests. For twenty subjects per cell, the power of the nonparametric and parametric tests was comparable.     

Permutation Solutions for Multivariate Ranking and Testing with Applications

In this article, we consider permutation methods for multivariate testing on ordered categorical variables based on the nonparametric combination of permutation dependent tests (NPC; Pesarin and Salmaso, 2010). Furthermore, an extension of the nonparametric combination of dependent rankings (Arboretti et al., 2007) is proposed in order to construct a synthesis of composite indicators.

The methodological approaches are applied to a study of risk factors for skin cancer in a cohort of adult patients with heart transplants followed for a minimum of three years after transplantation (Belloni et al, 2004) and to a survey on tourist's opinions about “Tre Cime” Park (District of Sesto Dolomites/Alta Pusteria, Italy).     

A Goodness-of-Fit Test for a Class of Autoregressive Conditional Duration Models

This article develops a method for testing the goodness-of-fit of a given parametric autoregressive conditional duration model against unspecified nonparametric alternatives. The test statistics are functions of the residuals corresponding to the quasi maximum likelihood estimate of the given parametric model, and are easy to compute. The limiting distributions of the test statistics are not free from nuisance parameters. Hence, critical values cannot be tabulated for general use. A bootstrap procedure is proposed to implement the tests, and its asymptotic validity is established. The finite sample performances of the proposed tests and several other competing ones in the literature, were compared using a simulation study. The tests proposed in this article performed well consistently throughout, and they were either the best or close to the best. None of the tests performed uniformly the best. The tests are illustrated using an empirical example.     

A simple nonparametric test for bivariate symmetry about a line

Over the years many researchers have dealt with testing the hypotheses of symmetry in univariate and multivariate distributions in the parametric and nonparametric setup. In a multivariate setup, there are several formulations of symmetry, for example, symmetry about an axis, joint symmetry, marginal symmetry, radial symmetry, symmetry about a known point, spherical symmetry, and elliptical symmetry among others. In this paper, for the bivariate case, we formulate a concept of symmetry about a straight line passing through the origin in a plane and accordingly develop a simple nonparametric test for testing the hypothesis of symmetry about a straight line. The proposed test is based on a measure of deviance between observed counts of bivariate samples in suitably defined pairs of sets. The exact null distribution and non-null distribution, for specified classes of alternatives, of the test statistics are obtained. The null distribution is tabulated for sample size from n=5 up to n=30. The null mean, null variance and the asymptotic null distributions of the proposed test statistics are also obtained. The empirical power of the proposed test is evaluated by simulating samples from the suitable class of bivariate distributions. The empirical findings suggest that the test performs reasonably well against various classes of asymmetric bivariate distributions. Further, it is advocated that the basic idea developed in this work can be easily adopted to test the hypotheses of exchangeability of bivariate random variables and also bivariate symmetry about a given axis which have been considered by several authors in the past.