Solved – Absolute variable as dependent variable

hypothesis testingnonparametricnormal distributionregression

I have the following model:
$$
|X| = B_0 +B_1 \cdot y + B_2 \cdot z ,
$$
where $z$ and $y$ are normally distributed random variables, and $B_1$ and $B_2$ denote the coefficients.

My dependent variable contains either the positive or negative values of $X$. The positive and negative values of $X$ together are normally distributed, with a mean and median of around zero. For statistical reasons I would like to separately test the positive and negative values. This splits the left and right side of the otherwise normally distributed variable $X$. This clearly violates the normality assumption used for linear regression models. If I want to compare groups I would use a nonparametric type of test, but in this case I want to run the equivalent of a linear regression. Is this possible?

Best Answer

I think you can run a regression with $X_+$ and $X_-$ as independents, long as you assume a linear relationship to $Y$.

The "normality assumption" for linear regression is only regarding the error term assumed normally distributed around the true value.

Related Question