A new and intuitive test for zero modification

Wilson, Paul; Einbeck, Jochen

Abstract

While there do exist several statistical tests for detecting zero modification in count data regression models, these rely on asymptotical results and do not transparently distinguish between zero inflation and zero deflation. In this manuscript, a novel non-asymptotic test is introduced which makes direct use of the fact that the distribution of the number of zeros under the null hypothesis of no zero modification can be described by a Poisson-binomial distribution. The computation of critical values from this distribution requires estimation of the mean parameter under the null hypothesis, for which a hybrid estimator involving a zero-truncated mean estimator is proposed. Power and nominal level attainment rates of the new test are studied, which turn out to be very competitive to those of the likelihood ratio test. Illustrative data examples are provided.

Citation

Wilson, P., & Einbeck, J. (2019). A new and intuitive test for zero modification. Statistical Modelling, 19(4), 341--361. https://doi.org/10.1177/1471082x18762277

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 7, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 5, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 26, 2018
• Journal: Statistical Modelling
• Print ISSN: 1471-082X
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-0342
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 341--361
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1471082x18762277
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1328390