a matrix of user-submitted covariates to simulate the data with, defaults to NULL in which case a gamma distribution is used to generate the covariates automatically
gshape
shape parameter of gamma distribution, must be non-negative, set to be 20 by default
gscale
scale parameter of gamma distribution, must be strictly positive, set to be 2 by default
par
the true coefficients in the linear predictor
sample.size
sample size of simulated data
linkf
a character string specifying one of the three link functions to be used: "logit" (default) or "probit" or "cloglog"
group.size
group size in pooling individual samples
sens
sensitivity of the group tests, set to be 1 by default.
spec
specificity of the group tests, set to be 1 by default.
sens.ind
sensitivity of the individual retests, set to be equal to sens if not specified otherwise.
spec.ind
specificity of the individual retests, set to be equal to spec if not specified otherwise.
Value
sim.halving returns a data frame with the following columns:
gres
the group response
x
the covariate
groupn
the group number
ind
the actual individual response
retest
the results of individual retests
subgroup
the subgroup number
Details
sim.halving generates group testing data for the halving protocol. The covariates are either specified by the x argument or they are generated from a gamma distribution with a given gshape and gscale. The individual probabilities are calculated from the covariates, the coefficients given in par, and the link function specified through linkf. The true binary individual responses are then simulated from the individual probabilities. The group, subgroup, and individual retests are simulated using the given sens and spec under the halving protocol.