Profile-kernel versus backfitting in the partially linear models for longitudinal/clustered data Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We study the profile-kernel and backfitting methods in partially linear models for clustered/longitudinal data. For independent data, despite the potential root-n inconsistency of the backfitting estimator noted by Rice (1986), the two estimators have the same asymptotic variance matrix, as shown by Opsomer & Ruppert (1999). In this paper, theoretical comparisons of the two estimators for multivariate responses are investigated. We show that, for correlated data, backfitting often produces a larger asymptotic variance than the profile-kernel method; that is, for clustered data, in addition to its bias problem, the backfitting estimator does not have the same asymptotic efficiency as the profile-kernel estimator. Consequently, the common practice of using the backfitting method to compute profile-kernel estimates is no longer advised. We illustrate this in detail by following Zeger & Diggle (1994) and Lin & Carroll (2001) with a working independence covariance structure for nonparametric estimation and a correlated covariance structure for parametric estimation. Numerical performance of the two estimators is investigated through a simulation study. Their application to an ophthalmology dataset is also described. 2004 Biometrika Trust.

published proceedings

  • BIOMETRIKA

author list (cited authors)

  • Hu, Z. H., Wang, N. Y., & Carroll, R. J.

citation count

  • 35

complete list of authors

  • Hu, ZH||Wang, NY||Carroll, RJ

publication date

  • June 2004