Monte Carlo simulation of the power of a test for the exponential distribution of survival times.
An illustrative analysis is presented demonstrating the use of the Monte Carlo method in estimating the power of a test to detect deviations from distributional form. New estimates of power are obtained for the WE0 test, a statistical test used to assess a set of observed survival times for deviation from the exponential distribution. An IBM PC/AT was used to process a series of simulations, in which samples of survival times were drawn from a series of populations whose survival was distributed according to the gamma distribution. Each sample was then tested for difference from the exponential to see how often the WE0 test would correctly classify the sample as drawn from a non-exponential population.
Holland
B
B
Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103-2757.
D003198:Computer Simulation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009874:Operations Research; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012984:Software; D016019:Survival Analysis