linear regression

Overfitting in Regression Models

The practice of choosing predictors for a regression model, called model building, is an area of real craft.

There are many possible strategies and approaches and they all work well in some situations. Every one of them requires making a lot of decisions along the way. As you make decisions, one danger to look out for is overfitting—creating a model that is too complex for the the data. [Read more…] about Overfitting in Regression Models

Member Training: Goodness of Fit Statistics

by TAF Support

What are goodness of fit statistics? Is the definition the same for all types of statistical model? Do we run the same tests for all types of statistic model?

What are Sums of Squares?

by Jeff Meyer Leave a Comment

A key part of the output in any linear model is the ANOVA table. It has many names in different software procedures, but every regression or ANOVA model has a table with Sums of Squares, degrees of freedom, mean squares, and F tests. Many of us were trained to skip over this table, but

The Importance of Including an Exposure Variable in Count Models

by Jeff Meyer 5 Comments

When our outcome variable is the frequency of occurrence of an event, we will typically use a count model to analyze the results. There are numerous count models. A few examples are: Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated Poisson and truncated negative binomial.

There are specific requirements for which count model to use. The models are not interchangeable. But regardless of the model we use, there is a very important prerequisite that they all share.

Count Models: Understanding the Log Link Function

by Jeff Meyer 2 Comments

When we run a statistical model, we are in a sense creating a mathematical equation. The simplest regression model looks like this:

Y_i = β₀ + β₁X+ ε_i

The left side of the equation is the sum of two parts on the right: the fixed component, β₀ + β₁X, and the random component, ε_i.

You’ll also sometimes see the equation written [Read more…] about Count Models: Understanding the Log Link Function

Member Training: Preparing to Use (and Interpret) a Linear Regression Model

by TAF Support

You think a linear regression might be an appropriate statistical analysis for your data, but you’re not entirely sure. What should you check before running your model to find out?