Basic Statistics and Data Analysis

Lecture notes, MCQS of Statistics

Heteroscedasticity Tests and Remedies

There are a set of heteroscedasticity tests and remedies that require an assumption about the structure of the heteroscedasticity, if it exists. That is, to use these tests you must choose a specific functional form for the relationship between the error vriance and the variables that you believe determine the error variance. The major difference between these tests is the functional form that each test assumes.

Breusch-Pagan Test

The Breusch-Pagan test assumes the error variance is a linear function of one or more variables.

Harvey-Godfrey Test

The Harvey-Godfrey test assumes the error variance is an exponential function of one or more variables. The variables are usually assumed to be one or more of the explanatory variables in the regression equation.

The White Test

The white test of heteroscedasticity is a general test for the detection of heteroscdsticity existence in data set. It has the following advantages:

  1. It does not require you to specify a model of the structure of the heteroscedasticity, if it exists.
  2. It does not depend on the assumption that the errors are normally distributed.
  3. It specifically tests if the presence of heteroscedasticity causes the OLS formula for the variances and the covariances of the estimates to be incorrect.

Remedies for Heteroscedasticity

Suppose that you find the evidence of existence of heteroscedasticity. If you use the oLS estimator, you will get unbiased but inefficient estimates of the parameters of the model. Also, the estimates of the variances and covariances of the parameter estimates will be biased and inconsistent, and as a result hypothesis tests will not be valid. When there is evidence of heteroscedasticity, econometricians do one of the two things:

  • Use OLS estimator to estimate the parameters of the model. Correct the estimates of the variances and covariances of the OLS estimates so that they are consistent.
  • Use an estimator other than the OLS estimator to estimate the parameters of the model.

Many econometricians choose first alternative. This is because the most serious consequence of using the OLS estimator when there is heteroscedasticity is that the estimates of the variances and covariances of the parameter estimates are biased and inconsistent. If this problem is corrected, then the only shortcoming of using OLS is that you lose some precision relative to some other estimator that you could have used. However, to get more precise estimates with an alternative estimator, you must know the approximate structure of the heteroscedasticity. If you specify the wrong model of heteroscedasticity, then this alternative estimator can yield estimates that are worse than the OLS

Stationary Stochastic Process

Stationary Stochastic Process

A stochastic process is said to be stationary if its mean and variance are constant over time and the value of the covariance between the two time periods depends only on a distance or gap or lag between the two time periods and not the actual time at which the covariance is computed. Such a stochastic process also known as weak stationary, covariance stationary, second-order stationary or wide sense stochastic process.

In other words a sequence of random variables {$y_t$} is covariance stationary if there is no trend, and if the covariance does not change over time.

Strictly Stationary (Covariance Stationary)

A time series is strictly stationary, if all the moments of its probability distribution are invariance over time but not for first two (mean and variance).

Let $y_t$ be a stochastic time series with

$E(y_t) = \mu $    $\Rightarrow$ Mean
$V(y_t) = E(y_t -\mu)^2=\sigma^2 $  $\Rightarrow$ Variance
$\gamma_k = E[(y_t-\mu)(y_{t+k}-\mu)]$  $\Rightarrow$ Covariance = $Cov(y_t, y_{t-k})$

$\gamma_k$ is covariance or autocovariance at lag $k$.

If $k=0$ then $Var(y_t)=\sigma^2$ i.e. $Cov(y_t)=Var(y_t)=\sigma^2$

If $k=1$ then we have covariance between two adjacent value of $y$.

If $y_t$ is to be stationary, the mean, variance and autocovariance of $y_{t+m}$ (shift or origin of $y=m$) must be the same as those of $y_t$. OR

If if a time series is stationary, its mean, variance and autocovariance remain the same no matter at what point we measure them, i.e, they are time invariant.

Non-Stationary Time Series

A time series having a time-varying mean or a time varying variance or both is called non-stationary time series.

Purely Random/ White Noise Process

A stochastic process having zero mean and a constant variance ($\sigma^2$) and serially uncorrelated is called purely random/ white noise process.

If it is independent also then such a process is called strictly white noise.

White noise denoted by $\mu_t$ as $\mu_t \sim N(0, \sigma^2)$ i.e. $\mu_t$ is independently and identically distributed as a normal distribution with zero mean and constant variance.

Stationary time series is important because if a time series is non-stationary, we can study its behaviour only for the time period under consideration. Each set of time series data will therefore be for a particular episode. As consequence, it is not possible to generalize it to other time periods. Therefore, for the purpose of forecasting, such (non-stochastic) time series may be of little practical value. Our interest is in stationary time series.


Download PDF file of Stationary Stochastic Process:


Binomial Probability Distribution


  4. The experiment is repeated a fixed number of times.

Binomial Probability Distribution


Binomial Probability Mass Function











Writing Excel Formulas

Writing Excel formulas is a little different than the way it is done in mathematics class. All Excel formulas starts with equal sign (=), that is, the equal sign always goes in that cell where you want the answer to appear from formula. Therefore, the equal sign informs Excel that this is formula not just a name or number. Excel formula looks like

= 3 + 2

rather than

3+2 =

Cell References in Formula

The example of formula has one drawback. If you want to change the number being calculated (3, and 2), you need to edit it or re-write the formula. A better way is to write formula in such a way that you can change the numbers without changing or re-writing the formulas themselves. To do this, cell references are used, which tells Excel that data/ numbers are located in a cell. Therefore a cell’s location/ reference in the spreadsheet is referred to as its cell reference.

To find a cell reference, simply click the cell of which you need cell reference and from NAME BOX (shown in figure below), see the text, such as F2.

Excel formula 1

F2 represents the cell in F column (horizontal position) and row 2 (vertical position). It means cells reference can also be found by reading column heading (at the top most position) of the cells and row number (at the left most position). Therefore, cell reference is a combination of the column letter and row number such as A1, B2, Z5, and A106 etc. For previous formula example, instead of writing = 3 + 2 in cell suppose (C1), follow this way of cell reference and formula writing:

In cell A1 write 3, and in cell B2 write 2. In C1 cell write the formula such as,

= A1 + A2

Excel Formula 2

Note that there is no gap between A & 1 and A & 2, they are simply A1 and A2. See the diagram for clear understanding.

Updating Excel Formula

Upon wrong cell references in Excel formula, the results from formula will be automatically updated, whenever the data value in relevant cells is changed. For example, if you want to change data in cell A1 to 8 instead of 3, you only need to change the content of A1 only. The result of formula in cell C1 will automatically be updated after the updation of data value in A1 or B1.

Note that the formula will not change because the cells references are being used instead of data values or numbers.



The Correlogram

A correlogram is a graph used to interpret a set of autocorrelation coefficients in which $r_k$ is plotted against the $log k$. A correlogram is often very helpful for visual inspection. Some general advice to interpret the correlogram are:

  • A Random Series: If a time series is completely random, then for large $N$, $r_k \cong 0$ for all non-zero value of $k$. A random time series $r_k$ is approximately $N\left(0, \frac{1}{N}\right)$. If a time series is random, let 19 out of 20 of the values of $r_k$ can be expected to lie between $\pm \frac{2}{\sqrt{N}}$. However, plotting the first 20 values of $r_k$, one can expect to find one significant value on average even when time series is really random.
  • Short-term Correlation: Stationary series often exhibit short term correlation characterized by a fairly large value of $r_1$ followed by 2 or 3 more coefficients (significantly greater than zero) tend to get successively smaller value of $r_k$ for larger lags tends to get be approximately zero. A time series which give rise to such a correlogram is one for which an observation above the mean tends to be followed by one or more further observations above the mean and similarly for observation below the mean. A model called an autoregressive model, may be appropriate for series of this type.
  • Alternating Series: If a time series has a tendency to alternate with successive observations on different sides of the overall mean, then the correlogram also tends to alternate. The value of $r_1$ will be negative, however, the value of $r_2$ will be positive as observation at lag 2 will tend to be on the same side of the mean.
  • Non-Stationary Series: If a time series contains a trend, then the value of $r_k$ will not come down to zero except for very large values of the lags. This is because by a large number of further observations on the same side of the mean because of the trend. The sample autocorrelation function $\{ r_k \}$ should only be calculated for stationary time series and no any tend should be removed before calculating $\{ r_k\}$.
  • Seasonal Fluctuations: If a time series contains a seasonal fluctuation then the correlogram will also exhibit an oscillation at the same frequency. If $x_t$ follows a sinusoidal patterns then so does $r_k$.
    $x_t=a\, cos\, t\, w, $ where $a$ is constant, $w$ is frequency such that $0 < w < \pi$. Therefore $r_k \cong cos\, k\, w$ for large $N$.
    If the seasonal variation is removed from seasonal data then the correlogram may provide useful information.
  • Outliers: If a time series contains one or more outliers the correlogram may be seriously affected. If there is one outlier in the time series and it is not adjusted, then the plot of $x_y$ vs $x_{t+k}$ will contain two extreme points, which will tend to depress the sample correlation coefficients towards zero. If there are two outliers, this effect is more noticeable.
  • General Remarks: Experience is required to interpret autocorrelation coefficients. We need to study the probability theory of stationary series and the classes of model too. We also need to know the sampling properties of $x_t$.
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