Date of Award

7-17-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mathematics and Statistics

First Advisor

Gengsheng Qin - Chair

Second Advisor

Yu-Sheng Hsu

Third Advisor

Yixin Fang

Abstract

With new tests being developed and marketed, the comparison of the diagnostic accuracy of two continuous-scale diagnostic tests are of great importance. Comparing the partial areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (pAUC) is an effective method to evaluate the accuracy of two diagnostic tests. In this thesis, we study the semi-parametric inference for the difference between two pAUCs. A normal approximation for the distribution of the difference between two pAUCs has been derived. The empirical likelihood ratio for the difference between two pAUCs is defined and its asymptotic distribution is shown to be a scaled chi-quare distribution. Bootstrap and empirical likelihood based inferential methods for the difference are proposed. We construct five confidence intervals for the difference between two pAUCs. Simulation studies are conducted to compare the finite sample performance of these intervals. We also use a real example as an application of our recommended intervals.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/1059710

Included in

Mathematics Commons

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