α‐investing: a procedure for sequential control of expected false discoveries

Dean P. Foster and Robert A. Stine

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, 2008, vol. 70, issue 2, 429-444

Abstract: Summary. α‐investing is an adaptive sequential methodology that encompasses a large family of procedures for testing multiple hypotheses. All control mFDR, which is the ratio of the expected number of false rejections to the expected number of rejections. mFDR is a weaker criterion than the false discovery rate, which is the expected value of the ratio. We compensate for this weakness by showing that α‐investing controls mFDR at every rejected hypothesis. α‐investing resembles α‐spending that is used in sequential trials, but it has a key difference. When a test rejects a null hypothesis, α‐investing earns additional probability towards subsequent tests. α‐investing hence allows us to incorporate domain knowledge into the testing procedure and to improve the power of the tests. In this way, α‐investing enables the statistician to design a testing procedure for a specific problem while guaranteeing control of mFDR.

Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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