More than obvious: Better methods for interpreting nondetect data

Environmental Science and Technology

Volumn 39, Issue 20, 2005, Pages

  Helsel, Dennis R ^a  

^a U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONCENTRATION (PROCESS); GEOLOGY; REGULATORY COMPLIANCE; STATISTICAL METHODS;

REGULATORY GUIDANCE;

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT;

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS;

CONCENTRATION (PARAMETERS); DATA ANALYSIS; DOCUMENTATION; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; HYPOTHESIS; KAPLAN MEIER METHOD; KRUSKAL WALLIS TEST; METHODOLOGY; NONPARAMETRIC TEST; PARAMETRIC TEST; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; RELIABILITY; REVIEW; STATISTICAL ANALYSIS; STATISTICAL MODEL;

EID: 26944476253     PISSN: 0013936X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1021/es053368a     Document Type: Review

References (27)

1. Helsel, D. R. Less Than Obvious: Statistical Treatment of Data Below the Detection Limit. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1990, 24, 1766-1774.
2. Klein, J. P.; Moeschberger, M. L. Survival Analysis: Techniques for Censored and Truncated Data; Springer: New York, 2003.
3. Meeker, W. O.; Escobar, L. A. Statistical Methods for Reliability Data; Wiley: New York, 1998.
4. Helsel, D. R. Nondelects and Data Analysis: Statistics for Censored Environmental Data; Wiley: New York, 2005.
5. Akritas, M. G. Statistical Analysis of Censored Environmental Data. In Handbook of Statistics; North Holland Publishing: Amsterdam, 1994; Vol. 12.
6. Technical Support Document for Water Quality-Based Toxics Control; EPA/505/2-90-001; U.S. EPA, Office of Water: Washington, DC, 1991.
7. Guidance for Comparing Background and Chemical Concentrations in Soil for CERCLA Sites; EPA 540-R-01-003; U.S. EPA, Office of Emergency and Remedial Response: Washington, DC, 2002.
8. Statistical Analysis of Ground-Water Monitoring Data at RCRA Facilities: Addendum to Interim Final Guidance; U.S. EPA, Office of Solid Waste: Washington, DC, 1992; www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/ca/resource/guidance/sitechar/gwstats/ gwstats.htm.
9. Guidance for Data Quality Assessment: Practical Methods for Data Analysis; EPA/600/R-96/084; U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development: Washington, DC, 1998.
10. Assigning Values to Non-DetectedfNon-Quantified Pesticide Residues in Human Health Food Exposure Assessments; Item 6047; U.S. EPA, Office of Pesticide Programs: Washington, DC, 2000; www.epa.gov/oppfod01/trac/science/trac3b012 jionoptimized.pdf.
11. Development Document for Proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production Industry Point Source Category; EPA-821-R-02-016; U.S. EPA, Office of Water: Washington, DC, 2002.
12. RCRA Waste Sampling Draft Technical Guidance; EPA-530-D-02-002; U.S. EPA, Office of Solid Waste: Washington, DC, 2002.
13. Helsel, D. R.; Cohn, T. Estimation of Descriptive Statistics for Multiply Censored Water Quality Data. Water Resour. Res. 1988, 24, 1997-2004. (Note: In this paper, ROS is called MR.)
14. Singh, A.; Nocerino, J. Robust Estimation of Mean and Variance Using Environmental Data Sets with Below Detection Limit Observations. Chemom. Intell. Lab. Syst. 2002, 60, 69-86.
15. Lubin, J. H.; et al. Epidemiologic Evaluation of Measurement Data in the Presence of Detection Limits. Environ. Health Perspect. 2004, 112, 1691-1696.
16. Local Limits Development Guidance Appendices; EPA833-R-04-002B; U.S. EPA, Office of Wastewater Management-Washington, DC, 2004.
17. Aitchison, J. On the Distribution of a Positive Random Variable Having a Discrete Probability Mass at the Origin. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 1955, 50, 901-908.
18. Gilliom, R.; Helsel, D. R. Estimation of Distributional Parameters for Censored Trace Level Water Quality Data, 1. Estimation Techniques. Water Resour. Res. 1986, 22, 135-146.
19. Hinton, S. Delta Lognormal Statistical Methodology Performance. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1993, 27, 2247-2249.
20. Cohen, A. C. Simplified Estimators for the Normal Distribution When Samples Are Singly Censored or Truncated. Technometrics 1959, 1, 217-237.
21. Shumway, R. H.; et al. Statistical Approaches to Estimating Mean Water Quality Concentrations with Detection Limits. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 3345-3353.
22. Kroll, C. N.; Stedinger, J. Estimation of Moments and Quantiles Using Censored Data. Water Resour. Res. 1996, 32, 1005-1012.
23. Determination of the Requirement to Include Water Quality Standards-Based Limits in CDPS Permits Based on Reasonable Potential: Procedural Guidance; Colorado Water Quality Control Division: Denver, CO, 2003; www.cdphe. state.co.us/wq/PermitsUnit/wqcdpmt.html#RPGuide.
24. Clarke, J. U. Estimation of Censored Data Methods to Allow Statistical Comparisons among Very Small Samples with Below Detection Limit Observations. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1998, 32, 177-183.
25. Millard, S.; Deverel, S. Nonparametric Statistical Methods for Comparing Two Sites Based on Data with Multiple Nondetect Limits. Water Resour. Res. 1988, 24, 2087-2098.
26. Liu, S.; et al. Analysis of Environmental Data with Censored Observations. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1997, 31, 3358-3362.
27. Akritas, M. G.; et al. The Theil-Sen Estimator with Doubly-Censored Data and Applications to Astronomy. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 1995, 90, 170-177.