Bayesian Model Choice in Cumulative Link Ordinal Regression Models

Bibliographic Details
Title: Bayesian Model Choice in Cumulative Link Ordinal Regression Models
Authors: McKinley, Trevelyan J., Morters, Michelle, Wood, James L. N.
Source: Bayesian Analysis 2015, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1-30
Publication Year: 2015
Collection: Mathematics
Statistics
Subject Terms: Statistics - Methodology, Mathematics - Statistics Theory
More Details: The use of the proportional odds (PO) model for ordinal regression is ubiquitous in the literature. If the assumption of parallel lines does not hold for the data, then an alternative is to specify a non-proportional odds (NPO) model, where the regression parameters are allowed to vary depending on the level of the response. However, it is often difficult to fit these models, and challenges regarding model choice and fitting are further compounded if there are a large number of explanatory variables. We make two contributions towards tackling these issues: firstly, we develop a Bayesian method for fitting these models, that ensures the stochastic ordering conditions hold for an arbitrary finite range of the explanatory variables, allowing NPO models to be fitted to any observed data set. Secondly, we use reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo to allow the model to choose between PO and NPO structures for each explanatory variable, and show how variable selection can be incorporated. These methods can be adapted for any monotonic increasing link functions. We illustrate the utility of these approaches on novel data from a longitudinal study of individual-level risk factors affecting body condition score in a dog population in Zenzele, South Africa.
Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-BA884 in the Bayesian Analysis (http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ba) by the International Society of Bayesian Analysis (http://bayesian.org/)
Document Type: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1214/14-BA884
Access URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07642
Accession Number: edsarx.1503.07642
Database: arXiv
More Details
DOI:10.1214/14-BA884