Posterior accuracy and calibration under misspecification in Bayesian generalized linear models

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Scholz, Maximilian, Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866929277120806912
author Scholz, Maximilian
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
author_facet Scholz, Maximilian
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
contents Generalized linear models (GLMs) are popular for data-analysis in almost all quantitative sciences, but the choice of likelihood family and link function is often difficult. This motivates the search for likelihoods and links that minimize the impact of potential misspecification. We perform a large-scale simulation study on double-bounded and lower-bounded response data where we systematically vary both true and assumed likelihoods and links. In contrast to previous studies, we also study posterior calibration and uncertainty metrics in addition to point-estimate accuracy. Our results indicate that certain likelihoods and links can be remarkably robust to misspecification, performing almost on par with their respective true counterparts. Additionally, normal likelihood models with identity link (i.e., linear regression) often achieve calibration comparable to the more structurally faithful alternatives, at least in the studied scenarios. On the basis of our findings, we provide practical suggestions for robust likelihood and link choices in GLMs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_09081
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Posterior accuracy and calibration under misspecification in Bayesian generalized linear models
Scholz, Maximilian
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Methodology
Generalized linear models (GLMs) are popular for data-analysis in almost all quantitative sciences, but the choice of likelihood family and link function is often difficult. This motivates the search for likelihoods and links that minimize the impact of potential misspecification. We perform a large-scale simulation study on double-bounded and lower-bounded response data where we systematically vary both true and assumed likelihoods and links. In contrast to previous studies, we also study posterior calibration and uncertainty metrics in addition to point-estimate accuracy. Our results indicate that certain likelihoods and links can be remarkably robust to misspecification, performing almost on par with their respective true counterparts. Additionally, normal likelihood models with identity link (i.e., linear regression) often achieve calibration comparable to the more structurally faithful alternatives, at least in the studied scenarios. On the basis of our findings, we provide practical suggestions for robust likelihood and link choices in GLMs.
title Posterior accuracy and calibration under misspecification in Bayesian generalized linear models
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09081