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Statistical Analysis Methodology

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Examining the Presidential Election With a Different Kind of Poll
RAND is introducing a new method of forecasting the outcomes of U.S. Presidential elections. Rather than repeatedly poll new random samples, this poll uses panel of 3,500 people who are asked the same questions every week. The results illustrate the effects of election season variables.
Sep 7, 2012
Journal Article
Bias and Variance Trade-Offs When Combining Propensity Score Weighting and Regression: With an Application to HIV Status and Homeless Men
There is a bias-variance tradeoff at work in propensity score estimation; every step toward better balance usually means an increase in variance and at some point a marginal decrease in bias may not be worth the associated increase in variance.
Jun 1, 2012
Journal Article
Ways to Improve Health Care Provider 'Report Cards'
As health care reform expands the use of
Mar 1, 2012
Journal Article
Henrica C. W. De Vet, Caroline B. Terwee, Lidwine B. Mokkink, and Dirk L. Knol: Measurement in Medicine: a Practical Guide
Brian Stucky and Claudia Pereira review the book Measurement in Medicine: A Practical Guide.
Mar 1, 2012
Journal Article
Detection of Associations Between Trial Quality and Effect Sizes
The amount of additional heterogeneity in effect sizes is a crucial factor in determining when associations between quality and effect sizes can be detected.
Jan 1, 2012
Dissertation
Evidence-Based Approaches to Law Enforcement Recruitment and Hiring
The methods employed, as well as those recommended for future studies, are applicable to any law enforcement agency interested in attracting and identifying high-quality applicants more efficiently.
Aug 29, 2011
Journal Article
Impact of Small Group Size on Neighbourhood Influences in Multilevel Models
In a simulated analysis of real data, the impact of a group size of less than five was examined on both a continuous and dichotomous outcome in a simple two-level multilevel model.
Aug 1, 2011
Journal Article
Empirical Evidence of Associations Between Trial Quality and Effect Size
Examines the empirical evidence for associations between a set of proposed quality criteria and estimates of effect sizes in randomized controlled trials across a variety of clinical fields and to explore variables potentially influencing the association.
Jun 1, 2011
Report
Resource-Constrained Spatial Hot Spot Identification
Describes a methodology for identifying areas where problem events are more pronounced and directing resources toward those areas.
May 11, 2011
Journal Article
A Model for Teacher Effects from Longitudinal Data Without Assuming Vertical Scaling
The authors developed a "generalized persistence" (GP) model, a Bayesian multivariate model for estimating teacher effects that accommodates longitudinal data that are not vertically scaled by allowing less than perfect correlation of a teacher's effects across test administrations.
Jan 6, 2011
Report
Estimating Reliability and Misclassification in Physician Profiling
Explains the relationship between reliability measurement and misclassification for physician quality and cost measures in health care. Provides a method to calculate reliability and misclassification from data typically available to health plans.
Sep 28, 2010
Journal Article
Sampling to Reduce Respondent Burden in Personal Network Studies and Its Effect on Estimates of Structural Measures
Interview time in personal network studies can be reduced by randomly sampling a smaller set of the alters named by the respondent and simulating the error that results when data are collected from the smaller group.
Jan 1, 2010
Journal Article
Nonparametric Inference and Uniqueness for Periodically Observed Progressive Disease Models
Using a discrete time semi-Markov model, the authors develop an algorithm for nonparametric estimation of the distribution functions of sojourn times in a J state progressive disease model.
Jan 1, 2010
Report
The Recalibration of the National Transport Model: PASS1 Demand Model Calibration
This report documents the results obtained from the re-estimation of models apportioning travel to destination area types, distance band and travel mode for an important component of the UK National Travel Model (NTM).
Dec 17, 2009
Report
A Strategic Approach to Joint Officer Management: Analysis and Modeling Results
As part of an effort examining officer development in joint matters, the authors use data analysis and complex modeling to identify billets that provide and/or require joint experience and to assess the supply and demand of joint officers.
Jul 16, 2009
Journal Article
Bayesian Estimation of Hispanic Fertility Hazards from Survey and Population Data
Previous studies have demonstrated both large gains in efficiency and reductions in bias by incorporating population information in regression estimation with sample survey data.
Feb 1, 2009
Journal Article
Use of Expert Ratings as Sampling Strata for a More Cost-Effective Probability Sample of a Rare Population
The authors consider situations in which externally observable characteristics allow experts to quickly categorize individual households as likely or unlikely to contain a member of a rare target population.
Jan 1, 2009
Journal Article
Using the Census Bureau's Surname List to Improve Estimates of Race/Ethnicity and Associated Disparities
Commercial health plans need member racial/ethnic information to address disparities, but often lack it. We incorporate the U.S. Census Bureau's latest surname list into a previous Bayesian method that integrates surname and geocoded information to better impute self-reported race/ethnicity.
Jan 1, 2009
Journal Article
Ranking USRDS Provider Specific SMRs from 1998-2001
Bayesian models coupled with optimizing a loss function provide an effective framework for computing non-standard inferences such as ranks. Inferences depend on the posterior distribution and should be guided by inferential goals. However, even optimal methods might not lead to definitive results and ranks should be accompanied by valid uncertainty assessments. The authors outline the Bayesian approach and use estimated Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) in 1998-2001 from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) as a platform to identify issues and demonstrate approaches.
Jan 1, 2009
Journal Article
Subjective Prior Distributions for Modeling Longitudinal Continuous Outcomes with Non-Ignorable Dropout
Substance abuse treatment research is complicated by the pervasive problem of non-ignorable missing data-i.e. the occurrence of the missing data is related to the unobserved outcomes.
Jan 1, 2009

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RAND Topic:
Statistical Analysis Methodology

Topic Synonyms:
Statistical Modeling