1.5 Goal of the book

The main goal of this book is to add multiple imputation to the tool chest of practitioners. The text explains the ideas underlying multiple imputation, discusses when multiple imputation is useful, how to do it in practice and how to report the results of the steps taken.

The computations are done with the help of the R package mice, written by Karin Groothuis-Oudshoorn and myself (Van Buuren and Groothuis-Oudshoorn 2011). The book thus also serves as an extended tutorial on the practical application of mice. Online materials that accompany the book can be found on www.multiple-imputation.com. My hope is that this hands-on approach will facilitate understanding of the key ideas in multiple imputation.