A subset selection procedure for multinomial distributions

作者：Bakir Saad T^*

来源：Journal of Applied Statistics, 2013, 40(7): 1608-1618.

DOI：10.1080/02664763.2013.789493

• income mobility
• large sample approximation
• selection procedures
• singular multivariate normal distribution

A subset selection procedure is developed for selecting a subset containing the multinomial population that has the highest value of a certain linear combination of the multinomial cell probabilities; such population is called the best'. The multivariate normal large sample approximation to the multinomial distribution is used to derive expressions for the probability of a correct selection, and for the threshold constant involved in the procedure. The procedure guarantees that the probability of a correct selection is at least at a pre-assigned level. The proposed procedure is an extension of Gupta and Sobel's [14] selection procedure for binomials and of Bakir's [2] restrictive selection procedure for multinomials. One illustration of the procedure concerns population income mobility in four countries: Peru, Russia, South Africa and the USA. Analysis indicates that Russia and Peru fall in the selected subset containing the best population with respect to income mobility from poverty to a higher-income status. The procedure is also applied to data concerning grade distribution for students in a certain freshman class.

• 出版日期2013-7-1