DPComb - Discrete p-Value Combination Tests
Provides tools for performing p-value combination tests
with discrete input p-values. These tests combine significance
evidence derived from independent discrete statistics to test a
global null hypothesis, which is defined by the specified null
distribution(s) of these discrete statistics. The testing
procedure involves two main steps: (1) Wasserstein Adjustment:
Each component of the combination statistic is replaced by an
adjusted Z statistic. This adjustment, based on the minimum
Wasserstein distance, preserves the discrete nature of the
original statistics while better aligning them with their
counterparts under continuity. (2) Calculation of the
Significance of the Combination Statistic: A continuous
distribution that optimally matches the discrete distribution
of the combination statistic is obtained, and the testing
p-value for the global null hypothesis is computed. The first
step is analogous to Lancaster's approach but is generalized
based on Wasserstein optimization. The second step allows for
asymptotic control of Type I error with higher statistical
power. The package implements several p-value combination
methods, including Fisher’s, Pearson’s, George’s, Stouffer’s,
and Edgington’s methods. The individual tests to be combined
can be right-sided, left-sided, or two-sided, and can be based
on binomial, Poisson, hypergeometric, noncentral
hypergeometric, negative binomial, or geometric distributions,
or a mixture of them. The underlying methodology and its
foundations are described in the following references:
Contador, Gonzalo and Wu, Zheyang (2025). A minimum Wasserstein
distance approach to Fisher's combination of independent,
discrete p-values. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 52(3),
1281-1300. <doi:10.1111/sjos.12787> Contador, Gonzalo and Wu,
Zheyang (2026). Optimal Adjustment and Combination of
Independent Discrete p-Values. Under revision at the Journal of
Computational and Graphical Statistics.
<doi:10.48550/arXiv.2508.02647> Lancaster, HO (1949). The
combination of probabilities arising from data in discrete
distributions. Biometrika, 36(3/4), 370-382.
<doi:10.1093/biomet/36.3-4.370>.