Political Science Computational Laboratory

Bayesian analysis of item-response theory (IRT) models, roll call analysis; computing highest density regions; maximum likelihood estimation of zero-inflated and hurdle models for count data; goodness-of-fit measures for GLMs; data sets used in writing and teaching; seats-votes curves.

Quantile Regression

Estimation and inference methods for models for conditional quantile functions: Linear and nonlinear parametric and non-parametric (total variation penalized) models for conditional quantiles of a univariate response and several methods for handling censored survival data. Portfolio selection methods based on expected shortfall risk are also now included. See Koenker, R. (2005) Quantile Regression, Cambridge U. Press, and Koenker, R. et al. (2017) Handbook of Quantile Regression, CRC Press, .

Conditional Inference Procedures in a Permutation Test Framework

Conditional inference procedures for the general independence problem including two-sample, K-sample (non-parametric ANOVA), correlation, censored, ordered and multivariate problems described in .

Generalized Linear Models Extended

Extended techniques for generalized linear models (GLMs), especially for binary responses, including parametric links and heteroscedastic latent variables.

Probability Distributions as S3 Objects

Tools to create and manipulate probability distributions using S3. Generics pdf(), cdf(), quantile(), and random() provide replacements for base R's d/p/q/r style functions. Functions and arguments have been named carefully to minimize confusion for students in intro stats courses. The documentation for each distribution contains detailed mathematical notes.

Generalized Additive Models for Location Scale and Shape

Functions for fitting the Generalized Additive Models for Location Scale and Shape introduced by Rigby and Stasinopoulos (2005), . The models use a distributional regression approach where all the parameters of the conditional distribution of the response variable are modelled using explanatory variables.

Fitting and Testing Generalized Logistic Distributions

Tools for the generalized logistic distribution (Type I, also known as skew-logistic distribution), encompassing basic distribution functions (p, q, d, r, score), maximum likelihood estimation, and structural change methods.

Censored Regression with Conditional Heteroscedasticity

Different approaches to censored or truncated regression with conditional heteroscedasticity are provided. First, continuous distributions can be used for the (right and/or left censored or truncated) response with separate linear predictors for the mean and variance. Second, cumulative link models for ordinal data (obtained by interval-censoring continuous data) can be employed for heteroscedastic extended logistic regression (HXLR). In the latter type of models, the intercepts depend on the thresholds that define the intervals. Infrastructure for working with censored or truncated normal, logistic, and Student-t distributions, i.e., d/p/q/r functions and distributions3 objects.

Truncated Gaussian Regression Models

Estimation of models for truncated Gaussian variables by maximum likelihood.

Visualizing Categorical Data

Visualization techniques, data sets, summary and inference procedures aimed particularly at categorical data. Special emphasis is given to highly extensible grid graphics. The package was package was originally inspired by the book "Visualizing Categorical Data" by Michael Friendly and is now the main support package for a new book, "Discrete Data Analysis with R" by Michael Friendly and David Meyer (2015).