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The Dance of the Mechanisms: How Observed Information Influences the Validity of Missingness Assumptions

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  • Rianne Margaretha Schouten
  • Gerko Vink

Abstract

Missing data in scientific research go hand in hand with assumptions about the nature of the missingness. When dealing with missing values, a set of beliefs has to be formulated about the extent to which the observed data may also hold for the missing parts of the data. It is vital that the validity of these missingness assumptions is verified, tested, and that assumptions are adjusted when necessary. In this article, we demonstrate how observed data structures could a priori indicate whether it is likely that our beliefs about the missingness can be trusted. To this end, we simulate complete data and generate missing values according several types of MCAR, MAR, and MNAR mechanisms. We demonstrate that in scenarios where the data correlations are either low or very substantial, strictly different mechanisms yield equivalent statistical inferences. In addition, we show that the choice of quantity of scientific interest together with the distribution of the nonresponse govern the validity of the missingness assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Rianne Margaretha Schouten & Gerko Vink, 2021. "The Dance of the Mechanisms: How Observed Information Influences the Validity of Missingness Assumptions," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 50(3), pages 1243-1258, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:50:y:2021:i:3:p:1243-1258
    DOI: 10.1177/0049124118799376
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. van Buuren, Stef & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, Karin, 2011. "mice: Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 45(i03).
    2. Geert Molenberghs & Caroline Beunckens & Cristina Sotto & Michael G. Kenward, 2008. "Every missingness not at random model has a missingness at random counterpart with equal fit," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 70(2), pages 371-388, April.
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