Finite Population Mixed Models for Pretest-Posttest Designs with Response Errors

Abstract

We consider a finite population mixed model that accommodates response errors and show how to obtain optimal estimators of the finite population parameters in a pretest-posttest context. We illustrate the method with the estimation of the difference in gain between two interventions and consider a simulation study to compare the empirical version of the proposed estimator (obtained by replacing variance components with estimates) with the estimator obtained via covariance analysis usually employed in such settings. The results indicate that in many instances, the proposed estimator has a smaller mean squared error than that obtained from the standard analysis of covariance model.