A note on confidence interval estimation for a linear function of binomial proportions

The Wilson score confidence interval for a binomial proportion has been widely applied in practice, due largely to its good performance in finite samples and its simplicity in calculation. We propose its use in setting confidence limits for a linear function of binomial proportions using the method of variance estimates recovery. Exact evaluation results show that this approach provides intervals that are narrower than the ones based on the adjusted Wald interval while aligning the mean coverage with the nominal level.

[1]  M. Bartlett,et al.  APPROXIMATE CONFIDENCE INTERVALSMORE THAN ONE UNKNOWN PARAMETER , 1953 .

[2]  S. T. Buckland,et al.  An Introduction to the Bootstrap. , 1994 .

[3]  R G Newcombe,et al.  Estimating the difference between differences: measurement of additive scale interaction for proportions , 2001, Statistics in medicine.

[4]  W. G. Howe Approximate Confidence Limits on the Mean of X + Y Where X and Y Are Two Tabled Independent Random Variables , 1974 .

[5]  E. B. Wilson Probable Inference, the Law of Succession, and Statistical Inference , 1927 .

[6]  Thomas J. Santner,et al.  Teaching Large‐Sample Binomial Confidence Intervals , 1998 .

[7]  James D. Stamey,et al.  A Note on Confidence Intervals for a Linear Function of Poisson Rates , 2006 .

[8]  R. Newcombe Two-sided confidence intervals for the single proportion: comparison of seven methods. , 1998, Statistics in medicine.

[9]  R. Newcombe,et al.  Interval estimation for the difference between independent proportions: comparison of eleven methods. , 1998, Statistics in medicine.

[10]  J J Gart,et al.  Approximate interval estimation of the difference in binomial parameters: correction for skewness and extension to multiple tables. , 1990, Biometrics.

[11]  Joshua M. Tebbs,et al.  New large-sample confidence intervals for a linear combination of binomial proportions , 2008 .

[12]  A. Agresti,et al.  Approximate is Better than “Exact” for Interval Estimation of Binomial Proportions , 1998 .

[13]  Douglas G. Bonett,et al.  An improved confidence interval for a linear function of binomial proportions , 2004, Comput. Stat. Data Anal..

[14]  M Nurminen,et al.  Comparative analysis of two rates. , 1985, Statistics in medicine.

[15]  A Donner,et al.  Construction of confidence limits about effect measures: A general approach , 2008, Statistics in medicine.

[16]  Guang Yong Zou,et al.  On the estimation of additive interaction by use of the four-by-two table and beyond. , 2008, American journal of epidemiology.