ISSN:
1432-2242
Keywords:
Intraclass correlation
;
Negative estimate
;
Restricted maximum likelihood
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary At least two common practices exist when a negative variance component estimate is obtained, either setting it to zero or not reporting the estimate. The consequences of these practices are investigated in the context of the intraclass correlation estimation in terms of bias, variance and mean squared error (MSE). For the one-way analysis of variance random effects model and its extension to the common correlation model, we compare five estimators: analysis of variance (ANOVA), concentrated ANOVA, truncated ANOVA and two maximum likelihood-like (ML) estimators. For the balanced case, the exact bias and MSE are calculated via numerical integration of the exact sample distributions, while a Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted for the unbalanced case. The results indicate that the ANOVA estimator performs well except for designs with family size n = 2. The two ML estimators are generally poor, and the concentrated and truncated ANOVA estimators have some advantages over the ANOVA in terms of MSE. However, the large biases may make the concentrated and truncated ANOVA estimators objectionable when intraclass correlation (ϱ) is small. Bias should be a concern when a pooled estimate is obtained from the literature since ϱ〈0.05 in many genetic studies.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00223848
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