Comparison of Three Binomial-related Models in the Estimation of Correlations

It has been generally recognized that conventional binomial or Poisson model provides poor fits to the actual correlated binary data due to the extra-binomial variation. A number of generalized statistical models have been proposed to account for this additional variation. Among them, beta-binomial, correlated-binomial, and modified-binomial models are binomial-related models which are frequently used in modeling the sum of n correlated binary data. In many situations, it is reasonable to assume that n correlated binary data are exchangeable, which is a special case of correlated binary data. The sum of n exchangeable correlated binary data is modeled relatively well when the above three binomial-related models are applied. But the estimation results of correlation coefficient turn to be quite different. Hence, it is important to identify which model provides better estimates of model parameters(success probability, correlation coefficient). For this purpose, a small-scale simulation study is performed to compare the behavior of above three models.