Education researchers often study count variables, such as times a student reached a goal, discipline referrals, and absences. Most researchers that study these variables use typical regression methods (i.e., ordinary least-squares) either with or without transforming the count variables. In either case, using typical regression for count data can produce parameter estimates that are biased, th...

Researchers and regulatory agencies often make statistical inferences from insect count data using modelling approaches that assume homogeneous variance. Such models do not allow for formal appraisal of variability which in its different forms is the subject of interest in ecology. Therefore, the objectives of this paper were to (i) compare models suitable for handling variance heterogeneity an...

This paper is concerned with the analysis of zero-inflated count data when time of exposure varies. It proposes a modified zero-inflated count data model where the probability of an extra zero is derived from an underlying duration model with Weibull hazard rate. The new model is compared to the standard Poisson model with logit zero inflation in an application to the effect of treatment with t...

Applications of zero-inflated count data models have proliferated in health economics. However, zero-inflated Poisson or zero-inflated negative binomial maximum likelihood estimators are not robust to misspecification. This article proposes Poisson quasi-likelihood estimators as an alternative. These estimators are consistent in the presence of excess zeros without having to specify the full di...

Discrete data in the form of counts often exhibit extra variation that cannot be explained by a simple model, such as the binomial or the Poisson. Also, these data sometimes show more zero counts than what can be predicted by a simple model. Therefore, a discrete generalized linear model (Poisson or binomial) may fail to fit a set of discrete data either because of zero-inflation, because of ov...

Count data often arise in biomedical studies, while there could be a special feature with excessive zeros in the observed counts. The zero-inflated Poisson model provides a natural approach to accounting for the excessive zero counts. In the semiparametric framework, we propose a generalized partially linear single-index model for the mean of the Poisson component, the probability of zero, or b...

OBJECTIVE Recent studies have shown the relevance of the cerebral grey matter involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS). The number of new cortical lesions (CLs), detected by specific MRI sequences, has the potential to become a new research outcome in longitudinal MS studies. Aim of this study is to define the statistical model better describing the distribution of new CLs developed over 12 and 2...