Practical strategies for handling breakdown of multiple imputation procedures

CD Nguyen; JB Carlin; KJ Lee

Journal article

Practical strategies for handling breakdown of multiple imputation procedures

CD Nguyen, JB Carlin, KJ Lee

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology | BMC | Published : 2021

DOI: 10.1186/s12982-021-00095-3

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Abstract

Multiple imputation is a recommended method for handling incomplete data problems. One of the barriers to its successful use is the breakdown of the multiple imputation procedure, often due to numerical problems with the algorithms used within the imputation process. These problems frequently occur when imputation models contain large numbers of variables, especially with the popular approach of multivariate imputation by chained equations. This paper describes common causes of failure of the imputation procedure including perfect prediction and collinearity, focusing on issues when using Stata software. We outline a number of strategies for addressing these issues, including imputation of c..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Cattram Nguyen Author

John Carlin Author

Kate Lee Author

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THE VICTORIAN CENTRE FOR APPLIED BIOSTATISTICS (VCAB): BUILDING CORE METHODOLOGICAL CAPACITY FOR POPULATION HEALTH

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Institute of Family Studies

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council: Career Development Fellowship ID 1120571 (KJL), Project Grant ID 1127984 (KJL, JBC), Project Grant ID 1166023 (KJL, JBC, CDN) and a Centre of Research Excellence Grant ID 1035261 (JBC), which funded the Victorian Centre for Biostatistics (ViCBiostat). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the manuscript.