Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T03:00:46.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

B - Choice of regression method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2010

Eilidh Garrett
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Alice Reid
Affiliation:
St John's College, Cambridge
Kevin Schürer
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Simon Szreter
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

The ordinary least squares (OLS) method of multiple regression modelling is used here, although for the statistically minded it is worth noting that the mortality index that we are using as the dependent variable can never be negative, and this may render simple OLS regression unsuitable as dependent variables are assumed to vary between negative and positive infinity. In practice, there may also be a large grouping of values of the mortality index on zero, as a considerable proportion of women will not have experienced any child deaths. This may make a tobit regression more suitable. Trussell and Preston, however, present a thorough comparison of the use of OLS and tobit regressions with reference to infant mortality, using the mortality index as the dependent variable. They conclude that OLS regression produces almost identical results to tobit.

Although tobit regression is probably more statistically valid, it has the crucial disadvantage of being much less straightforward to interpret than OLS. In a comparison using our data, the overall pattern of the magnitudes and signs of the coefficients was the same with both regression procedures, but while the OLS average is constrained to be that of the sample of the whole, this is not true for tobit. It is therefore not possible to interpret the tobit coefficients as having a particular multiplicative effect on mortality.

Type
Chapter
Information
Changing Family Size in England and Wales
Place, Class and Demography, 1891–1911
, pp. 468 - 470
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×