Relating Count Data To Other Variables
Here the count variable would be treated as a dependent variable. Statistical methods such as least squares and analysis of variance are designed to deal with continuous dependent variables. These can be adapted to deal with count data by using data transformations such as the square root transformation, but such methods have several drawbacks; they are approximate at best and estimate parameters that are often hard to interpret.
The Poisson distribution can form the basis for some analyses of count data and in this case Poisson regression may be used. This is a special case of the class of generalized linear models which also contains specific forms of model capable of using the binomial distribution (binomial regression, logistic regression) or the negative binomial distribution where the assumptions of the Poisson model are violated, in particular when the range of count values is limited or when overdispersion is present.
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