ABSTRACT
In this chapter we present the statistical fundamentals of event history analysis. After discussing the classification of event history analysis within the framework of stochastic processes in Section 3.1, in Section 3.2 we thoroughly discuss the fundamental concepts of event history analysis. The basic concepts presented are the hazard function (frequently referred to in the literature as the failure rate, the instantaneous death rate, or the force of mortality), the survivor function, the cumulative hazard rate, as well as some important classes of distributions that are relevant for describing the episode (spell, duration, lifetime), which is the period of time between successive events. These concepts are then defined for the one-episode case, although many of these statistical concepts are applicable to more complex situations exhibiting recurrent episodes or competing risks. Finally, this section concludes with a presentation of nonparametric estimation methods such as the life table technique and the Kaplan-Meier estimate (commonly referred to as the product-limit estimate) of the survivor function as well as comparative tests of survivor functions.
