학술논문

Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Hierarchical Linear Models from Incomplete Data: Random Coefficients, Statistical Interactions, and Measurement Error
Document Type
Reports - Research
Source
Grantee Submission. 2023.
Subject
Maximum Likelihood Statistics
Hierarchical Linear Modeling
Error of Measurement
Statistical Distributions
Inferences
Predictor Variables
Computation
Context Effect
Probability
Family Income
Prediction
Equations (Mathematics)
Simulation
Statistical Analysis
Interaction
Language
English
Abstract
We consider two-level models where a continuous response R and continuous covariates C are assumed missing at random. Inferences based on maximum likelihood or Bayes are routinely made by estimating their joint normal distribution from observed data R[subscript obs] and C[subscript obs]. However, if the model for R given C includes random coefficients, interactions, or polynomial terms, their joint distribution will be nonstandard. We propose a family of unique factorizations involving selected "provisionally known random effects'' u such that h(R[subscript obs], C[subscript obs] |u) is normally distributed and u is a low-dimensional normal random vector; we approximate h(R[subscript obs], C[subscript obs]) =[integral]h(R[subscript obs], C[subscript obs]¦u)g(u)du via adaptive Gauss-Hermite quadrature. For polynomial models, the approximation is exact but, in any case, can be made as accurate as required given sufficient computation time. The model incorporates random effects as explanatory variables, reducing bias due to measurement error. By construction, our factorizations solve problems of compatibility among fully conditional distributions that have arisen in Bayesian imputation based on the Gibbs Sampler. We spell out general rules for selecting u, and show that our factorizations can support fully compatible Bayesian methods of imputation using the Gibbs Sampler. [This paper will be published in "Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics."]

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