Estimating the Entropy Rate of Finite Markov Chains with Application to Behavior Studies
Publication Date
6-2019
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
Keywords
Complexity, Markov process, Lempel–Ziv, Predictability
Abstract
Predictability of behavior is an important characteristic in many fields including biology, medicine, marketing, and education. When a sequence of actions performed by an individual can be modeled as a stationary time-homogeneous Markov chain the predictability of the individual’s behavior can be quantified by the entropy rate of the process. This article compares three estimators of the entropy rate of finite Markov processes. The first two methods directly estimate the entropy rate through estimates of the transition matrix and stationary distribution of the process. The third method is related to the sliding-window Lempel–Ziv compression algorithm. The methods are compared via a simulation study and in the context of a study of interactions between mothers and their children.
Copyright Date
1-30-2019
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Rights Holder
American Educational Research Association
Provenance
Received from CHORUS
Language
English (eng)
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the American Educational Research Association. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:
Vegetabile, B. G., Stout-Oswald, S. A., Davis, E. P., Baram, T. Z., & Stern, H. S. (2019). Estimating the entropy rate of finite Markov chains with application to behavior studies. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 44(3), 282-308. https://doi.org/10.3102/1076998618822540
Publication Title
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics
Volume
44
Issue
3
First Page
282
Last Page
308
ISSN
1935-1054
Recommended Citation
Vegetabile, B. G., Stout-Oswald, S. A., Davis, E. P., Baram, T. Z., & Stern, H. S. (2019). Estimating the entropy rate of finite Markov chains with application to behavior studies. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 44(3), 282-308. https://doi.org/10.3102/1076998618822540