Monotone Missing Data: A Blessing and a Curse

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tikka, Santtu, Karvanen, Juha
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Tikka, Santtu
Karvanen, Juha
author_facet Tikka, Santtu
Karvanen, Juha
contents Monotone missingness is commonly encountered in practice when a missing measurement compels another measurement to be missing. Because of the simpler missing data pattern, monotone missing data is often viewed as beneficial from the perspective of practical data analysis. However, in graphical missing data models, monotonicity has implications for the identifiability of the full law, i.e., the joint distribution of actual variables and response indicators. In the general nonmonotone case, the full law is known to be nonparametrically identifiable if and only if specific graphical structures are not present. We show that while monotonicity may enable the identification of the full law despite some of these structures, it also prevents the identification in certain cases that are identifiable without monotonicity. The results emphasize the importance of proper treatment of monotone missingness in the analysis of incomplete data.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_03848
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Monotone Missing Data: A Blessing and a Curse
Tikka, Santtu
Karvanen, Juha
Methodology
Monotone missingness is commonly encountered in practice when a missing measurement compels another measurement to be missing. Because of the simpler missing data pattern, monotone missing data is often viewed as beneficial from the perspective of practical data analysis. However, in graphical missing data models, monotonicity has implications for the identifiability of the full law, i.e., the joint distribution of actual variables and response indicators. In the general nonmonotone case, the full law is known to be nonparametrically identifiable if and only if specific graphical structures are not present. We show that while monotonicity may enable the identification of the full law despite some of these structures, it also prevents the identification in certain cases that are identifiable without monotonicity. The results emphasize the importance of proper treatment of monotone missingness in the analysis of incomplete data.
title Monotone Missing Data: A Blessing and a Curse
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03848