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Estimation for Dyadic-Dependent Exponential Random Graph Models
Title
Estimation for Dyadic-Dependent Exponential Random Graph Models
Creator
Yang, Xiaolin, Rinaldo, Alessandro, Fienberg, Stephen E.
Date
2014, 2014-04-30
Description
Graphs are the primary mathematical representation for networks, with nodes or vertices corresponding to units (e.g., individuals) and edges...
Show moreGraphs are the primary mathematical representation for networks, with nodes or vertices corresponding to units (e.g., individuals) and edges corresponding to relationships. Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) are widely used for describing network data because of their simple structure as an exponential function of a sum of parameters multiplied by their corresponding sufficient statistics. As with other exponential family settings the key computational difficulty is determining the normalizing constant for the likelihood function, a quantity that depends only on the data. In ERGMs for network data, the normalizing constant in the model often makes the parameter estimation intractable for large graphs, when the model involves dependence among dyads in the graph. One way to deal with this problem is to approximate the likelihood function by something tractable, e.g., by using the method of pseudo-likelihood estimation suggested in the early literature. In this paper, we describe the family of ERGMs and explain the increasing complexity that arises from imposing different edge dependence and homogeneous parameter assumptions. We then compare maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum pseudo-likelihood (MPL) estimation schemes with respect to existence and related degeneracy properties for ERGMs involving dependencies among dyads.
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Collection
Journal of Algebraic Statistics
A Family of Quasisymmetry Models
Title
A Family of Quasisymmetry Models
Creator
Kateri, Maria, Mohammadi, Fatemeh, Sturmfels, Bernd
Date
2015, 2015-06-11
Description
We present a one-parameter family of models for square contingency tables that interpolates between the classical quasisymmetry model and its...
Show moreWe present a one-parameter family of models for square contingency tables that interpolates between the classical quasisymmetry model and its Pearsonian analogue. Algebraically, this corresponds to deformations of toric ideals associated with graphs. Our discussion of the statistical issues centers around maximum likelihood estimation.
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Collection
Journal of Algebraic Statistics
Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Latent Class Model through Model Boundary Decomposition
Title
Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Latent Class Model through Model Boundary Decomposition, Special Volume in honor of memory of S.E.Fienberg
Creator
Elizabeth S. Allman, Baños Cervantes, Hector, Evans, Robin, Hosten, Serkan, Kubjas, Kaie, Lemke, Daniel, Rhodes, John, Zwiernik, Piotr
Date
2019, 2019-04-12
Description
The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is routinely used for maximum likelihood estimation in latent class analysis. However, the EM...
Show moreThe Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is routinely used for maximum likelihood estimation in latent class analysis. However, the EM algorithm comes with no global guarantees of reaching the global optimum. We study the geometry of the latent class model in order to understand the behavior of the maximum likelihood estimator. In particular, we characterize the boundary stratification of the binary latent class model with a binary hidden variable. For small models, such as for three binary observed variables, we show that this stratification allows exact computation of the maximum likelihood estimator. In this case we use simulations to study the maximum likelihood estimation attraction basins of the various strata and performance of the EM algorithm. Our theoretical study is complemented with a careful analysis of the EM fixed point ideal which provides an alternative method of studying the boundary stratification and maximizing the likelihood function. In particular, we compute the minimal primes of this ideal in the case of a binary latent class model with a binary or ternary hidden random variable.
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Collection
Journal of Algebraic Statistics