A. C. Davison

Models and likelihood are the backbone of modern statistics. This 2003 book gives an integrated development of these topics that blends theory and practice, intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practitioners. Its breadth is unrivaled, with sections on survival analysis, missing data, Markov chains, Markov random fields, point processes, graphical models, simulation and Markov chain Monte Carlo, estimating functions, asymptotic approximations, local likelihood and spline regressions as well as on more standard topics such as likelihood and linear and generalized linear models. Each chapter contains a wide range of problems and exercises. Practicals in the S language designed to build computing and data analysis skills, and a library of data sets to accompany the book, are available over the Web.

In fields such as biology, medical sciences, sociology, and economics researchers often face the situation where the number of available observations, or the amount of available information, is sufficiently small that approximations based on the normal distribution may be unreliable. Theoretical work over the last quarter-century has led to new likelihood-based methods that lead to very accurate approximations in finite samples, but this work has had limited impact on statistical practice. This book illustrates by means of realistic examples and case studies how to use the new theory, and investigates how and when it makes a difference to the resulting inference. The treatment is oriented towards practice and comes with code in the R language (available from the web) which enables the methods to be applied in a range of situations of interest to practitioners. The analysis includes some comparisons of higher order likelihood inference with bootstrap or Bayesian methods.

Models and likelihood are the backbone of modern statistics and data analysis. Anthony Davison here blends theory and practice to provide an integrated text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practitioners. The coverage is unrivalled, with sections on survival analysis, missing data, Markov chains, Markov random fields, point processes, graphical models, simulation and Markov chain Monte Carlo, estimating functions, asymptotic approximations, local likelihood and spline regressions as well as chapters on more standard topics such as the linear model and Bayesian statistics. Each chapter contains a wide range of exercises. Worked examples, aimed at helping users make the transition from theory to practice, abound. Practicals in the S language for developing computing and data analysis skills are also available, together with a library of data sets. These features will ensure that this becomes the standard text and reference in the subject, for both users of statistics and students.