L16 Model Identification
How do we find the best possible model (optimal orders \((p,q)\) of the model) given the practical data?
ACF and PACF plots of AR and MA models¶
| ACF | PACF | |
|---|---|---|
| \(AR(p)\) | Tails off after lag \(p\)![]() |
Cuts off after lag \(p\)![]() |
| \(MA(q)\) | Cuts off after lag \(q\)![]() |
Tails off after lag \(q\)![]() |
- Note the 95% confidence bands, any correlations outside the band are significant.
- For large and messy data, ACF and PACF become complicated (harder to interpret)
- There can be multiple models. Choose the most appropriate model (with less parameters) → Look at information criteria.1
Information Criteria¶
- AIC: 1974
- SBC (or BIC): 1978
- HQIC: 1989
Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC)¶
A statistical model with \(M\) parameters are fitted to data.
The log-likelihood function becomes
where
- \(S(\phi_{p}, \theta_{q},\mu)\) is the RSS,
- assuming \(e_{t}\) follows a \(\mathcal{N}(0, \sigma_{e}^{2})\). \(Y_{t}-\hat{Y_{t}} = e_{t}\)
- The first part \(-\dfrac{n}{2}\ln 2\pi\sigma_{e}^{2}\) comes from the normal PDF
Schwarz's Bayesian Criteria (SBC) or BIC¶
A.k.a. Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC)
- BIC introduces an additional penalty term for an extra parameter, to account for the risk of overfitting that comes with higher number of parameters
Hannan-Quinn Information Criteria (HQIC)¶
- Due to simplicity people still prefer AIC and SBC.
Other Techniques¶
- Sample Inverse Autocorrelation Function (SACF)
- Generally captures orders better in seasonal models than PACF
- useful for detecting over-differencing
- Extended Sample Autocorrelation Function (ESACF)
- Can tentatively identify orders of stationary or nonstationary ARMA process
- Based on iterated least squares estimates (previous information criteria were based on MLE)
- Minimum Information Criteria (MINIC)
-
If the same job could be done with approximately same accuracy but less number of parameters, prefer that ↩



