Zero-Truncated and Zero-Inflated Models for Count Data

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss models for zero-truncated and zero-inflated count data. Zero truncated means the response variable cannot have a value of 0. A typical example from the medical literature is the duration patients are in hospital. For ecological data, think of response variables like the time a whale is at the surface before re-submerging, counts of fin rays on fish (e.g. used for stock identification), dolphin group size, age of an animal in years or months, or the number of days that carcasses of road-killed animals (amphibians, owls, birds, snakes, carnivores, small mammals, etc.) remain on the road. These are all examples for which the response variable cannot take a value of 0.