Woods, A.D. orcid.org/0000-0003-1101-6975, Gerasimova, D. orcid.org/0000-0002-9669-1648, Van Dusen, B. orcid.org/0000-0003-1264-0550 et al. (16 more authors) (2024) Best practices for addressing missing data through multiple imputation. Infant and Child Development, 33 (1). e2407. ISSN 1522-7227
Abstract
A common challenge in developmental research is the amount of incomplete and missing data that occurs from respondents failing to complete tasks or questionnaires, as well as from disengaging from the study (i.e., attrition). This missingness can lead to biases in parameter estimates and, hence, in the interpretation of findings. These biases can be addressed through statistical techniques that adjust for missing data, such as multiple imputation. Although multiple imputation is highly effective, it has not been widely adopted by developmental scientists given barriers such as lack of training or misconceptions about imputation methods. Utilizing default methods within statistical software programs like listwise deletion is common but may introduce additional bias. This manuscript is intended to provide practical guidelines for developmental researchers to follow when examining their data for missingness, making decisions about how to handle that missingness and reporting the extent of missing data biases and specific multiple imputation procedures in publications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Infant and Child Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | development; missing data; missingness mechanisms; multiple imputation; open scholarship |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 12 Oct 2023 14:40 |
Last Modified: | 28 Feb 2024 14:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/icd.2407 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:204132 |