# Robust Inference under the Beta Regression Model with Application to Health Care Studies

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a robust inference method for beta regression models, addressing the lack of robustness in traditional approaches, with applications in health care and psychology.

## Contribution

It develops a robust minimum density power divergence estimator and Wald-type tests for beta regression, including theoretical robustness analysis and practical applications.

## Key findings

- The proposed estimators show improved robustness against outliers.
- Simulation studies demonstrate better finite sample performance.
- Real data applications validate the methods in health care and psychology contexts.

## Abstract

Data on rates, percentages or proportions arise frequently in many different applied disciplines like medical biology, health care, psychology and several others. In this paper, we develop a robust inference procedure for the beta regression model which is used to describe such response variables taking values in $(0, 1)$ through some related explanatory variables. In relation to the beta regression model, the issue of robustness has been largely ignored in the literature so far. The existing maximum likelihood based inference has serious lack of robustness against outliers in data and generate drastically different (erroneous) inference in presence of data contamination. Here, we develop the robust minimum density power divergence estimator and a class of robust Wald-type tests for the beta regression model along with several applications. We derive their asymptotic properties and describe their robustness theoretically through the influence function analyses. Finite sample performances of the proposed estimators and tests are examined through suitable simulation studies and real data applications in the context of health care and psychology. Although we primarily focus on the beta regression models with a fixed dispersion parameter, some indications are also provided for extension to the variable dispersion beta regression models with an application.