A Comparison of Information Concerning the Regression Parameter in The Accelerated Failure Time Model under Current Duration and Length Biased Sampling: Does it Pay to be Patient?

Abstract

Longitudinal observations are sometimes costly or not available. Cross sectional sampling can be an alternative. Observations are drawn then at a specific point in time from a population of durations whose distributions satisfy a {\em core model}. Subsequently, one has a choice. One may process the data immediately, obtaining so called current duration data. Or one waits until the sampled durations are known completely obtaining the full durations via length biased sampling. We compare the Fisher information for the Euclidean parameter corresponding to an Accelerated Failure Time core model when the observations are obtained by either current duration or length biased sampling.