Greetings,

I am using Amelia (among other packages) for a large scale statistical matching project. In reading Honaker and King (2010) and the Amelia users guide, I am a bit confused as to what EMB actually does. From Honaker and King pg. 565, the paragraph starting with "Specifically...", seems to suggest that there is no Bayesian component to the algorithm. That is, only draws from the data are taken, EM is used for estimating model parameters, etc. However, earlier, it is indicated that Bayesian analysis is used for all other parts of the imputation process. I don't see the relationship between the two statements. The Amelia users guide states that draws are taken from the posterior of the model parameters. So, I'm confused as to where the Bayes, EM, and Bootstrap phases of the algorithm come into play.

Feel free to respond off the list.

Thanks in advance,

-- 

=======================================================================
David Kaplan, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Educational Sciences, Room, 1082B
1025 W. Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53706

email: dkaplan@education.wisc.edu
homepage:
http://www.education.wisc.edu/edpsych/default.aspx?content=kaplan.html
Phone: 608-262-0836
=======================================================================