Usage Note 24475: Handling the ERROR: "An imputed variable value is not in the specified range after 100 tries"
Multiple imputation involves making random draws from the posterior distribution of the variables. When you specify the MIN= and MAX= options, you restrict the possible values that can be drawn. If PROC MI draws a value outside the range, it will attempt to make another draw. If that continues beyond 100 times, it aborts the process and issues the following message.
ERROR: An imputed variable value is not in the specified range after 100 tries
You can specify the MINMAXITER= option to increase the number of attempts, although in practice that rarely works.
It might make sense to remove the MIN= and MAX= options since the restrictions they impose have been shown to decrease efficiency and increase bias because they alter the mean vectors and covariance matrices of the posterior distribution. Imputed values should not be viewed as equivalent to observed values and "serve only to help estimate the covariances between variables needed for inference" (Johnson and Young, 2011).
Nevertheless, if there is a need to have the imputed values fall within a certain range, then there are other options you can try. You could change the imputation method or try specifying your own prior distribution. Another option is to remove the MIN= and MAX= options and then impose those restrictions in a DATA step after performing multiple imputations. This process might require a trial-and-error approach and details of its implementation are highly data dependent.
Reference
Johnson, D., and R. Young (2011). "Imputing the Missing Y's: Implications for Survey Producers and Survey Users." Proceedings of the AAPOR Conference Abstracts, 6242–6248.
Operating System and Release Information
SAS System | SAS/STAT | Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit | | |
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise 32-bit | | |
Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 32-bit | | |
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 32-bit | | |
OS/2 | | |
Microsoft® Windows® for x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Edition | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter 64-bit Edition | | |
Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems | | |
OpenVMS VAX | | |
z/OS 64-bit | | |
z/OS | | |
Microsoft Windows 10 | | |
Microsoft Windows 95/98 | | |
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server | | |
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server | | |
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server | | |
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional | | |
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64 | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacenter | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Std | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Std | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 | | |
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 | | |
Microsoft Windows XP Professional | | |
Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit | | |
Windows 7 Enterprise x64 | | |
Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit | | |
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 | | |
Windows 7 Professional 32 bit | | |
Windows 7 Professional x64 | | |
Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit | | |
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 | | |
Windows Millennium Edition (Me) | | |
Windows Vista | | |
Windows Vista for x64 | | |
64-bit Enabled AIX | | |
64-bit Enabled HP-UX | | |
64-bit Enabled Solaris | | |
ABI+ for Intel Architecture | | |
AIX | | |
HP-UX | | |
HP-UX IPF | | |
IRIX | | |
Linux | | |
Linux for x64 | | |
Linux on Itanium | | |
OpenVMS Alpha | | |
OpenVMS on HP Integrity | | |
Solaris | | |
Solaris for x64 | | |
Tru64 UNIX | | |
*
For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed
Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be
fixed.
Type: | Usage Note |
Priority: | low |
Topic: | Analytics ==> Missing Value Imputation SAS Reference ==> Procedures ==> MI
|
Date Modified: | 2006-01-18 09:05:54 |
Date Created: | 2006-01-13 14:22:06 |