MAS6003   Linear Modelling   (20 credits)

Description

The unit develops students' understanding of the general theory of linear models for regression modelling and analysing experiments, and introduces extensions to these models. A wide variety of important applications are considered, including modelling binary and count data, and analysing contingency tables and structured data. Discussion in the unit covers regression model building and model checking, multiple regression and the analysis of complete factorial experiments. It then considers heirarchical linear models for siutation in which variation arise from several sources - from different life-style choices, for example, in relation to patients' responses to medical treatment, or from variations in feild fertility as well as local micro-climate in the growth of crops. A further extension is to problems in which data are naturally modelled by distributions other than the Normal: count data or non-negative data for example. The unit will show how the standard Normal theory methods can be powerfully generalized to deal with th relationship of response variables to explanatory factors in this wider context. Applications include drug-cure rates as functions of dose, the analysis of contingency tables and the modelling of sports data.

Reading List