GLZ Introductory Overview - Model Building
In addition to fitting the whole model for the specified type of analysis, different methods for automatic model building can be employed in analyses using the generalized linear model. Specifically, forward entry, backward removal, forward stepwise, and backward stepwise procedures can be performed, as well as best-subset search procedures. In forward methods of selection of effects to include in the model (i.e., forward entry and forward stepwise methods), score statistics are compared to select new (significant) effects. The Wald statistic can be used for backward removal methods (i.e., backward removal and backward stepwise, when effects are selected for removal from the model).
The best subsets search method can be based on three different test statistics: the score statistic, the model likelihood, and the AIC (Akaike Information Criterion, see Akaike, 1973). Note that, since the score statistic does not require iterative computations, best subset selection based on the score statistic is computationally fastest, while selection based on the other two statistics usually provides more accurate results; see McCullagh and Nelder(1989), for additional details.