st: changing the order of the imputations while using ICE

["Francesco D'Amico" <francdamico@yahoo.it>]

Dear Martin, thanks a lot for your reply

I think you are completely right in saying that in general when using ice you should not worry about the order of imputations.


The reason why I was thinking to set the order of the imputations is to take advantage of the multiple imputation procedure whilst at the same time deciding the structure of the imputation one needs. In my case, let's suppose i have 5 variables (x1, x2, x3, x4 and x5). I know that x2 only depends on x1 and I don't want the other 3 variables to be included in the imputation. I can already set this by using the option eq() which allows me to specify which variables have to be inlcuded in any inputation equation. It annoys me though that this step cannot be set to be the first but happens in an already set position (say the third for instance), lacking the logical sequentiality I would need. 

The more logical solution could be to separate manually the two steps by using mi impute in the first step (let's say generating 5new imputations) and ice in the second step. The problem I would have in doing this is that I don't know what is the best way to include the 5 newly generated imputations in the second step based on ice.

Many thanks again

Francesco

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