Better Understanding Test Controls

perf_meas

The first argument perf_meas specifies the performance measure used to define the test statistic. Loosely defined, a performance measure is a function that provides information about the performance of a simple test at a specified alternative. It takes as arguments a norm φ, an alternative x and a limiting distribution P₀ and considers the performance of a test defined by reject if φ(ψ̂) > c_α if the parameter value ψ was equal to x. The perf_meas specifies which measure of performance to use. Currently the package has implemented three such measures:

• p-value (specified by setting perf_meas = "pval"): The p-value of the test if ψ̂ = x, defined by Γ(x, P₀) := pr(φ(x) < φ(Z)) where Z ∼ P₀

• acceptance rate (specified by setting perf_meas = "est_acc"): The acceptance rate of the test if ψ̂, is normally distributed and centered at x defined by Γ(x, P₀) := pr(φ(x + Z) < c_α) where Z ∼ P₀ and c_α = F_φ(Z)⁻¹(1 − α)

• multiplicative distance (specified by setting perf_meas = "mag"): The minimum s such that pr(φ(sx + Z) < c_α) where Z ∼ P₀ and c_α = F_φ(Z)⁻¹(1 − α) is lower than 0.2.

Recommendation: Based on what we know currently, we recommend that users use the multiplicative distance performance measure. The other measures can have limiting distributions that are highly concentrated near 0 which can cause issues when approximating the p-value of the test.

We will discuss specification of the norm in the next section. For more details on the procedure, including why performance measures are good for defining a test statistic, see A general adaptive framework for multivariate point null testing.

Norm specification

Two arguments are used to specify the norm used in defining the test statistic. The first is nrm_type which can either be "ssq" or "lp". These norms are defined as:

• ℓ_p norm ("lp"): $$\ell_p: (x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_d) \mapsto \sqrt[p]{\sum_{i = 1}^d|x_i|^p} $$
• Sum of squares norm ("ssq"): $$\jmath_{p}:(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_d)\mapsto \left\{\textstyle\sum_{j=1}^{p}x^2_{(d-j+1)}\right\}^{1/2}$$

The choice of p is specified by the pos_lp_norms argument. If pos_lp_norm is assigned a single value, a non-adaptive version of the test will be performed. If instead pos_lp_norm is assigned multiple arguments an adaptive test will be carried out. More information can be found in our paper. For the ℓ_p norm, it is possible to set p = ∞. To make this specification in R, include "max" in the vector of values assigned to pos_lp_norm.

ld_est_meth

The next argument we review specifies the method by which you wish to estimate the limiting distribution of the test statistic (Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀)). There are two options for this argument:

• Parametric bootstrap (specified by setting ld_est_meth = "par_boot"): When using the parametric bootstrap version of the test, the estimated limiting distribution of Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀) is approximated by assuming that ψ̂ has a distribution equal to P̂₀ and that P̂₀ is normal distribution.
• Permutation (specified by setting ld_est_meth = "perm"): When using the permutation version of the test, the estimated limiting distribution of Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀) is approximated by repeatedly permuting the data and recalculating ψ̂ using the permuted data. This method may provide better finite sample performance. However, it comes at the cost computational efficiency. Also note that depending on the parameter of interest, the permutation based test may not have the same null hypothesis as is desired. Thus, care must be taken when using this method.

n_peld_mc_samples

To understand this control argument it is important to distinguish between our parameter estimator ψ̂ and our test statistic, which is a function of ψ̂ and the estimated limiting distribution of ψ̂ under the null hypothesis (that ψ = 0), denoted by P̂₀. Letting Γ denote our performance measure, conditional on our observations, the true value of the test statistic is fixed and equal to Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀).

The n_peld_mc_samples argument determines how accurate the approximation of test statistic Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀) will be. The performance measure is frequently a function of P̂₀ through some probability statement (see the perf_meas for examples). To approximate these probabilities, a MC approximation is used and n_peld_mc_samples determines how many MC draws are taken.

Considering this argument in practice, note that the testing procedure only approximates the test statistic:

tc <- amp::test.control(n_peld_mc_samples = 50, pos_lp_norms = "2")
set.seed(10)
test_1 <- amp::mv_pn_test(obs_data = obs_data, param_est = amp::ic.pearson, 
                control = tc)
set.seed(20)
test_2 <- amp::mv_pn_test(obs_data = obs_data, param_est = amp::ic.pearson, 
                control = tc)
print(c(test_1$test_stat, test_2$test_stat))
#> [1] 0.72 0.84

In order to better approximate the test statistic, one may increase the value of this control argument:

mc_draws <- c(10, 50)
all_res <- list()
for (mc_draws in c(10, 50)) {
  set.seed(121)
  tc <- amp::test.control(n_peld_mc_samples = mc_draws, pos_lp_norms = 2, 
                          perf_meas = "est_acc")
  test_stat <- replicate(50, amp::mv_pn_test(obs_data = obs_data,
                            param_est = amp::ic.pearson,
                            control = tc)$test_stat)
  all_res[[as.character(mc_draws)]] <- 
    data.frame("mc_draws" = mc_draws, test_stat)
}
oldpar <- par(mfrow = c(1,2))
yl <- 25 
hist(all_res[[1]]$test_stat, main = "MC draws = 10",
     xlab = "Test Statistic", xlim = c(0, 1), ylim = c(0, yl), 
     breaks = seq(0, 1, 0.1)) 
hist(all_res[[2]]$test_stat, main = "MC draws = 50",
     xlab = "Test Statistic", xlim = c(0, 1),  ylim = c(0, yl), 
     breaks = seq(0, 1, 0.1))

par(oldpar)

ts_ld_bs_samp

The other parameter that determines the approximation accuracy of the testing procedure is ts_ld_bs_samp. This argument determines the number of draws taken from the estimated limiting distribution of Γ(ψ̂, P̂₀). This is different that n_peld_mc_samples that determines the accuracy of these draws and the test statistic.

other_output

other_output is a character vector. Currently other_output only provides the option of returning two additional output elements.

• If "var_est" is contained in other_output, the test output will contain will have var_mat returned which is the empirical second moment of the IC (equal asymptotically to the variance estimator). However, this matrix can be quite large for larger dimensions, which is why there is a separate control for this option.
• If "obs_data" is contained in the other_output, the test output will return the data passed to the testing function.