Offering an introduction to the theory and methods of robust statistics at an intermediate level, this work aims to illustrate the need for robust procedures in a variety of statistical contexts, and to develop the techniques and concepts which will be useful in the future analysis of new statistical models and procedures. Emphasis is placed on the concepts of breakdown point and influence function of an estimator. Coverage is provided for the technique of expressing an estimator as a descriptive measure, from which its influence function can be easily derived.

This book focuses on tools and techniques for building regression models using real-world data and assessing their validity. A key theme throughout the book is that it makes sense to base inferences or conclusions only on valid models. Plots are shown to be an important tool for both building regression models and assessing their validity. We shall see that deciding what to plot and how each plot should be interpreted will be a major challenge. In order to overcome this challenge we shall need to understand the mathematical properties of the fitted regression models and associated diagnostic...