Non parametric Bayesian analysis of the two-sample problem with censoring. Issue 24 (17th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shang, Kan; Reilly, Cavan
• Is Part Of: Communications in statistics. Volume 46:Issue 24(2017)
• Page Start: 12008
• Page End: 12022
• Publication Date: 2017-12-17
• Subjects: Bayesian inference -- censored data -- Dirichlet process prior; 62G10; Mathematical statistics -- Periodicals; Mathematics; Statistics; 519.2
• DOI: 10.1080/03610926.2017.1288249
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0361-0926

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Testing for differences between two groups is a fundamental problem in statistics, and due to developments in Bayesian non parametrics and semiparametrics there has been renewed interest in approaches to this problem. Here we describe a new approach to developing such tests and introduce a class of such tests that take advantage of developments in Bayesian non parametric computing. This class of tests uses the connection between the Dirichlet process (DP) prior and the Wilcoxon rank sum test but extends this idea to the DP mixture prior. Here tests are developed that have appropriate frequentist sampling procedures for large samples but have the potential to outperform the usual frequentist tests. Extensions to interval and right censoring are considered and an application to a high-dimensional data set obtained from an RNA-Seq investigation demonstrates the practical utility of the method.