Missing data imputation is the process of replacing missing data with substituted, 'best guess', values. Because missing data can create problems for analyzing data and can lead to missing-data bias, imputation is seen as a way to avoid the problems associated with listwise deletion (ignoring all observations with any missing values).
Missing data imputation is the process of replacing missing data with substituted, 'best guess', values. Because missing data can create problems for analyzing data and can lead to missing-data bias, imputation is seen as a way to avoid the problems associated with listwise deletion (ignoring all observations with any missing values). Multiple methods for imputation exist, including: imputing missing values with a single value, such as the mean or median or some specific value based on domain-expertise; distance based heuristics such as kNN; stochastic averaging via multiple imputation; and model-based methods including Expectation Maximization (EM).
Suggested tag synonym: "missing-data"
