The selection of independent variables in a regression model is often a challenging problem. Ideally, one would like to obtain the most adequate regression model. This task can be tackled with techniques such as expert based selection, stepwise regression and stochastic search heuristics, such as genetic algorithms (GA). In this study, we investigate the performance of two GAs for regressors se...

1. Distinguish the roles for and types of descriptive and inferential statistics. 2. Classify data types found in the pharmacotherapy literature as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio. 3. Evaluate statistical significance using either p values or confidence intervals. 4. Judge the appropriateness of common statistical tests or techniques for a set of data. 5. Infer the reliability of trial res...

A literature search shows that robust regression techniques are rarely used in applied econometrics. We present a technique based on Rousseeuw and Van Zomeren [Journal of the American Statistical Association, 85 (1990) 633–639] that removes many of the difficulties in applying such techniques to economic data. We demonstrate the value of these techniques by re-analyzing three OLS-based regressi...

We extend the correspondence between two-stage coding procedures in data compression and penalized likelihood procedures in statistical estimation. Traditionally, this had required restriction to countable parameter spaces. We show how to extend this correspondence in the uncountable parameter case. Leveraging the description length interpretations of penalized likelihood procedures we devise n...

In climate studies, weather scientists are interested in discovering which environmental factors have the greatest influence on significant weather phenomena. Due to the destructiveness of recent hurricane seasons, some scientists are focusing their studies on discovering which environmental variables have the greatest impact on the intensity and frequency of seasonal storm activity using stati...

Metabolic profiling, also known as metabonomics (Nicholson et al., 1999) or metabolomics (Raamsdonk et al., 2001), is a rapidly developing field in biomedical science that combines the application of spectroscopic techniques with multivariate statistical analysis in studies of the molecular composition of biofluids, cells and tissues. The experimental focus is on profiling metabolites the thous...

The growing interest in Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques and recognition of their importance in IS research suggests the need to compare and contrast different types of SEM techniques so that research designs can be appropriately selected. After assessing the extent to which these techniques are currently being used in IS research, the article presents a running example which analy...