Robust Methods In Biostatistics

Robust statistics is an extension of classical statistics that specifically takes into account the concept that the underlying models used to describe data are only approximate. Its basic philosophy is to produce statistical procedures which are stable when the data do not exactly match the postulated models as it is the case for example with outliers. Robust Methods in Biostatistics proposes robust alternatives to common methods used in statistics in general and in biostatistics in particular and illustrates their use on many biomedical datasets. The methods introduced include robust estimation, testing, model selection, model check and diagnostics. They are developed for the following general classes of models: Linear regression Generalized linear models Linear mixed models Marginal longitudinal data models Cox survival analysis model The methods are introduced both at a theoretical and applied level within the framework of each general class of models, with a particular emphasis put on practical data analysis. This book is of particular use for research students,applied statisticians and practitioners in the health field interested in more stable statistical techniques. An accompanying website provides R code for computing all of the methods described, as well as for analyzing all the datasets used in the book.

A new edition of this popular text on robust statistics, thoroughly updated to include new and improved methods and focus on implementation of methodology using the increasingly popular open-source software R. Classical statistics fail to cope well with outliers associated with deviations from standard distributions. Robust statistical methods take into account these deviations when estimating the parameters of parametric models, thus increasing the reliability of fitted models and associated inference. This new, second edition of Robust Statistics: Theory and Methods (with R) presents a broad coverage of the theory of robust statistics that is integrated with computing methods and applications. Updated to include important new research results of the last decade and focus on the use of the popular software package R, it features in-depth coverage of the key methodology, including regression, multivariate analysis, and time series modeling. The book is illustrated throughout by a range of examples and applications that are supported by a companion website featuring data sets and R code that allow the reader to reproduce the examples given in the book. Unlike other books on the market, Robust Statistics: Theory and Methods (with R) offers the most comprehensive, definitive, and up-to-date treatment of the subject. It features chapters on estimating location and scale; measuring robustness; linear regression with fixed and with random predictors; multivariate analysis; generalized linear models; time series; numerical algorithms; and asymptotic theory of M-estimates. Explains both the use and theoretical justification of robust methods Guides readers in selecting and using the most appropriate robust methods for their problems Features computational algorithms for the core methods Robust statistics research results of the last decade included in this 2nd edition include: fast deterministic robust regression, finite-sample robustness, robust regularized regression, robust location and scatter estimation with missing data, robust estimation with independent outliers in variables, and robust mixed linear models. Robust Statistics aims to stimulate the use of robust methods as a powerful tool to increase the reliability and accuracy of statistical modelling and data analysis. It is an ideal resource for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in statistics, engineering, computer science, and physical and social sciences.

Robust statistical methods were developed to supplement the classical procedures when the data violate classical assumptions. They are ideally suited to applied research across a broad spectrum of study, yet most books on the subject are narrowly focused, overly theoretical, or simply outdated. Robust Statistical Methods with R provides a systemati

The second edition of Robust Statistical Methods with R provides a systematic treatment of robust procedures with an emphasis on new developments and on the computational aspects. There are many numerical examples and notes on the R environment, and the updated chapter on the multivariate model contains additional material on visualization of multivariate data in R. A new chapter on robust procedures in measurement error models concentrates mainly on the rank procedures, less sensitive to errors than other procedures. This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers and postgraduate students in statistics and mathematics. Features • Provides a systematic, practical treatment of robust statistical methods • Offers a rigorous treatment of the whole range of robust methods, including the sequential versions of estimators, their moment convergence, and compares their asymptotic and finite-sample behavior • The extended account of multivariate models includes the admissibility, shrinkage effects and unbiasedness of two-sample tests • Illustrates the small sensitivity of the rank procedures in the measurement error model • Emphasizes the computational aspects, supplies many examples and illustrations, and provides the own procedures of the authors in the R software on the book’s website

This book offers a collection of recent contributions and emerging ideas in the areas of robust statistics presented at the International Conference on Robust Statistics 2015 (ICORS 2015) held in Kolkata during 12–16 January, 2015. The book explores the applicability of robust methods in other non-traditional areas which includes the use of new techniques such as skew and mixture of skew distributions, scaled Bregman divergences, and multilevel functional data methods; application areas being circular data models and prediction of mortality and life expectancy. The contributions are of both theoretical as well as applied in nature. Robust statistics is a relatively young branch of statistical sciences that is rapidly emerging as the bedrock of statistical analysis in the 21st century due to its flexible nature and wide scope. Robust statistics supports the application of parametric and other inference techniques over a broader domain than the strictly interpreted model scenarios employed in classical statistical methods. The aim of the ICORS conference, which is being organized annually since 2001, is to bring together researchers interested in robust statistics, data analysis and related areas. The conference is meant for theoretical and applied statisticians, data analysts from other fields, leading experts, junior researchers and graduate students. The ICORS meetings offer a forum for discussing recent advances and emerging ideas in statistics with a focus on robustness, and encourage informal contacts and discussions among all the participants. They also play an important role in maintaining a cohesive group of international researchers interested in robust statistics and related topics, whose interactions transcend the meetings and endure year round.

To celebrate Peter Huber's 60th birthday in 1994, our university had invited for a festive occasion in the afternoon of Thursday, June 9. The invitation to honour this outstanding personality was followed by about fifty colleagues and former students from, mainly, allover the world. Others, who could not attend, sent their congratulations by mail and e-mail (P. Bickel:" ... It's hard to imagine that Peter turned 60 ... "). After a welcome address by Adalbert Kerber (dean), the following lectures were delivered. Volker Strassen (Konstanz): Almost Sure Primes and Cryptography -an Introduction Frank Hampel (Zurich): On the Philosophical Foundations of Statistics 1 Andreas Buja (Murray Hill): Projections and Sections High-Dimensional Graphics for Data Analysis. The distinguished speakers lauded Peter Huber a hard and fair mathematician, a cooperative and stimulating colleague, and an inspiring and helpful teacher. The Festkolloquium was surrounded with a musical program by the Univer 2 sity's Brass Ensemble. The subsequent Workshop "Robust Statistics, Data Analysis and Computer Intensive Methods" in Schloss Thurnau, Friday until Sunday, June 9-12, was organized about the areas in statistics that Peter Huber himself has markedly shaped. In the time since the conference, most of the contributions could be edited for this volume-a late birthday present-that may give a new impetus to further research in these fields.

This volume contains most of the invited and contributed papers presented at the Conference on Robustness of Statistical Methods and Nonparametric Statistics held in the castle oj'Schwerin, Mai 29 - June 4 1983. This conference was organized by the Mathematical Society of the GDR in cooperation with the Society of Physical and Mathematical Biology of the GDR, the GDR-Region of the International Biometric Society and the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR. All papers included were thoroughly reviewed by scientist listed under the heading "Editorial Collabora tories·'. Some contributions, we are sorry to report, were not recommended for publi cation by the rf'vif'wers and do not appear in these proceedings. The editors thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. The conference was organizf'd bv a Programme Committee, its chairman was Prof. Dr. Dieter Rasch (Research Centre of Animal Production, Dummerstorf-Rostock). The members of the Programme Committee were Prof. Dr., Johannes Adam (Martin-Luther-University Halle) Prof. Dr. Heinz Ahrens (Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Berlin) Doz. Dr. Jana Jureckova (Charles University Praha) Prof. Dr. Moti Lal Tiku (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) The aim of the conference was to discuss several aspects of robustness but mainly to present new results regarding the robustness of classical statistical methods especially tests, confidence estimations, and selection procedures, and to compare their perfor mance with nonparametric procedures. Robustness in this sens~ is understood as intensivity against. violation of the normal assumption.