Bias prevention of maximum likelihood estimates for scalar skew normal and skew t distributions

The skew normal model is a class of distributions that extends the Gaussian family by including a shape parameter. Despite its nice properties, this model presents some problems with the estimation of the shape parameter. In particular, for moderate sample sizes, the maximum likelihood estimator is infinite with positive probability. As a solution, we use a modified score function as an estimating equation for the shape parameter. It is proved that the resulting modified maximum likelihood estimator is always finite. For confidence intervals a quasi-likelihood approach is considered. When regression and scale parameters are present, the method is combined with maximum likelihood estimators for these parameters. Finally, also the skew t distribution is considered, which may be viewed as an extension of the skew normal. The same method is applied to this model, considering the degrees of freedom as known.     

Estimation of common location parameter of several heterogeneous exponential populations based on generalized order statistics

In this article, several independent populations following exponential distribution with common location parameter and unknown and unequal scale parameters are considered. From these populations, several independent samples of generalized order statistics (gos) are drawn. Under the setup of gos, the problem of estimation of common location parameter is discussed and various estimators of common location parameter are derived. The authors obtained maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), modified MLE and uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator of common location parameter. Furthermore, under scaled-squared error loss function, a general inadmissibility result of invariant estimator is proposed. The derived results are further reduced for upper record values which is a special case of gos. Finally, simulation study and real life example are reported to show the performances of various competing estimators in terms of percentage risk improvement.     

A note on comparison and improvement of estimators based on likelihood

The problem of estimation of a parameter of interest in the presence of a nuisance parameter, which is either location or scale, is considered. Three estimators are taken into account: usual maximum likelihood (ML) estimator, maximum integrated likelihood estimator and the bias-corrected ML estimator. General results on comparison of these estimators w.r.t. the second-order risk based on the mean-squared error are obtained. Possible improvements of basic estimators via the notion of admissibility and methodology given in Ghosh and Sinha [A necessary and sufficient condition for second order admissibility with applications to Berkson's bioassay problem. Ann Stat. 1981;9(6):1334–1338] are considered. In the recent paper by Tanaka et al. [On improved estimation of a gamma shape parameter. Statistics. 2014; doi:10.1080/02331888.2014.915842], this problem was considered for estimating the shape parameter of gamma distribution. Here, we perform more accurate comparison of estimators for this case as well as for some other cases.     

Bias-corrected estimators of scalar skew normal

One problem of skew normal model is the difficulty in estimating the shape parameter, for which the maximum likelihood estimate may be infinite when sample size is moderate. The existing estimators suffer from large bias even for moderate size samples. In this article, we proposed five estimators of the shape parameter for a scalar skew normal model, either by bias correction method or by solving a modified score equation. Simulation studies show that except bootstrap estimator, the proposed estimators have smaller bias compared to those estimators in literature for small and moderate samples.     

C335. Some numerology for the mass ratio of proton to electron,and a partially Bayesian evaluation

Recent small sample studies of estimators for the shape parameter a of the negative binomial distribution (NBD) tend to indicate that the choice of estimator can be reduced to a choice between the method of moments estimator, maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), maximum quasi-likelihood estimator and the conditional likelihood estimator (CLE). In this paper the results of a comprehensive simulation study are reported to assist with the choice from these four estimators. The study includes a traditional procedure for assessing estimators for the shape parameter of the NBD and in addition introduces an alternative assessment procedure. Based on the traditional approach the CLE is considered to perform the best overall for the range of parameter values and sample sizes considered. The alternative assessment procedure indicates that the MLE is the preferred estimator.     

Estimation for the Generalized Pareto Distribution Using Maximum Likelihood and Goodness of Fit

In this article, we introduce a new estimator for the generalized Pareto distribution, which is based on the maximum likelihood estimation and the goodness of fit. The asymptotic normality of the new estimator is shown and a small simulation. From the simulation, the performance of the new estimator is roughly comparable with maximum likelihood for positive values of the shape parameter and often much better than maximum likelihood for negative values.     

On bias reduction estimators of skew-normal and skew-t distributions

A particular concerns of researchers in statistical inference is bias in parameters estimation. Maximum likelihood estimators are often biased and for small sample size, the first order bias of them can be large and so it may influence the efficiency of the estimator. There are different methods for reduction of this bias. In this paper, we proposed a modified maximum likelihood estimator for the shape parameter of two popular skew distributions, namely skew-normal and skew-t, by offering a new method. We show that this estimator has lower asymptotic bias than the maximum likelihood estimator and is more efficient than those based on the existing methods.     

On generalized least squares estimation of the weibull distribution

A simple estimation procedure, based on the generalized least squares method, for the parameters of the Weibull distribution is described and investigated. Through a simulation study, this estimation technique is compared with maximum likelihood estimation, ordinary least squares estimation, and Menon's estimation procedure; this comparison is based on observed relative efficiencies (that is, the ratio of the Cramer-Rao lower bound to the observed mean squared error). Simulation results are presented for samples of size 25. Among the estimators considered in this simulation study, the generalized least squares estimator was found to be the "best" estimator for the shape parameter and a close competitor to the maximum likelihood estimator of the scale parameter.     

Regularized parameter estimation of high dimensional t distribution

We propose penalized-likelihood methods for parameter estimation of high dimensional t distribution. First, we show that a general class of commonly used shrinkage covariance matrix estimators for multivariate normal can be obtained as penalized-likelihood estimator with a penalty that is proportional to the entropy loss between the estimate and an appropriately chosen shrinkage target. Motivated by this fact, we then consider applying this penalty to multivariate t distribution. The penalized estimate can be computed efficiently using EM algorithm for given tuning parameters. It can also be viewed as an empirical Bayes estimator. Taking advantage of its Bayesian interpretation, we propose a variant of the method of moments to effectively elicit the tuning parameters. Simulations and real data analysis demonstrate the competitive performance of the new methods.     

The conditional MLE in the two-parameter geometric distribution and its competitors

The conditional maximum likelihood estimator of the shape parameter in the two-parameter geometric distribution is introduced and explored. The estimator is compared with the unconditional maximum likelihood estimator and the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator.     

Bias reduction of maximum likelihood estimates for a modified skew-normal distribution

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a modified skew-normal (SN) model that contains the normal model as a special case. Unlike the usual SN model, the Fisher information matrix of the proposed model is always non-singular. Despite of this desirable property for the regular asymptotic inference, as with the SN model, in the considered model the divergence of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the skewness parameter may occur with positive probability in samples with moderate sizes. As a solution to this problem, a modified score function is used for the estimation of the skewness parameter. It is proved that the modified MLE is always finite. The quasi-likelihood approach is considered to build confidence intervals. When the model includes location and scale parameters, the proposed method is combined with the unmodified maximum likelihood estimates of these parameters.     

Comparisons of methods of estimation for a pareto distribution of the first kind

This paper compares methods of estimation for the parameters of a Pareto distribution of the first kind to determine which method provides the better estimates when the observations are censored, The unweighted least squares (LS) and the maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) are presented for both censored and uncensored data. The MLE's are obtained using two methods, In the first, called the ML method, it is shown that log-likelihood is maximized when the scale parameter is the minimum sample value. In the second method, called the modified ML (MML) method, the estimates are found by utilizing the maximum likelihood value of the shape parameter in terms of the scale parameter and the equation for the mean of the first order statistic as a function of both parameters. Since censored data often occur in applications, we study two types of censoring for their effects on the methods of estimation: Type II censoring and multiple random censoring. In this study we consider different sample sizes and several values of the true shape and scale parameters.

Comparisons are made in terms of bias and the mean squared error of the estimates. We propose that the LS method be generally preferred over the ML and MML methods for estimating the Pareto parameter γ for all sample sizes, all values of the parameter and for both complete and censored samples. In many cases, however, the ML estimates are comparable in their efficiency, so that either estimator can effectively be used. For estimating the parameter α, the LS method is also generally preferred for smaller values of the parameter (α ≤4). For the larger values of the parameter, and for censored samples, the MML method appears superior to the other methods with a slight advantage over the LS method. For larger values of the parameter α, for censored samples and all methods, underestimation can be a problem.     

Exact confidence intervals for the shape parameter of the gamma distribution

In this paper exact confidence intervals (CIs) for the shape parameter of the gamma distribution are constructed using the method of Bølviken and Skovlund [Confidence intervals from Monte Carlo tests. J Amer Statist Assoc. 1996;91:1071–1078]. The CIs which are based on the maximum likelihood estimator or the moment estimator are compared to bootstrap CIs via a simulation study.     

Pivotal inference for the inverse Rayleigh distribution based on general progressively Type-II censored samples

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the scale parameter of the inverse Rayleigh distribution based on general progressively Type-II censored samples and progressively Type-II censored samples. The pivotal quantity method is used to derive the estimator of the scale parameter. Besides, considering that the maximum likelihood estimator is tough to obtain for this distribution, we derive an explicit estimator of the scale parameter by approximating the likelihood equation with Taylor expansion. The interval estimation is also studied based on pivotal inference. Then we conduct Monte Carlo simulations and compare the performance of different estimators. We demonstrate that the pivotal inference is simpler and more effective. The further application of the pivotal quantity method is also discussed theoretically. Finally, two real data sets are analyzed using our methods.     

Linear approximate ML estimation in scaled Type I generalized logistic distribution based on Type-II censored samples

The scaled (two-parameter) Type I generalized logistic distribution (GLD) is considered with the known shape parameter. The ML method does not yield an explicit estimator for the scale parameter even in complete samples. In this article, we therefore construct a new linear estimator for scale parameter, based on complete and doubly Type-II censored samples, by making linear approximations to the intractable terms of the likelihood equation using least-squares (LS) method, a new approach of linearization. We call this as linear approximate maximum likelihood estimator (LAMLE). We also construct LAMLE based on Taylor series method of linear approximation and found that this estimator is slightly biased than that based on the LS method. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to investigate the performance of LAMLE and found that it is almost as efficient as MLE, though biased than MLE. We also compare unbiased LAMLE with BLUE based on the exact variances of the estimators and interestingly this new unbiased LAMLE is found just as efficient as the BLUE in both complete and Type-II censored samples. Since MLE is known as asymptotically unbiased, in large samples we compare unbiased LAMLE with MLE and found that this estimator is almost as efficient as MLE. We have also discussed interval estimation of the scale parameter from complete and Type-II censored samples. Finally, we present some numerical examples to illustrate the construction of the new estimators developed here.     

Estimation of common location parameter of two exponential populations based on records

Consider the problem of estimating the common location parameter of two exponential populations using record data when the scale parameters are unknown. We derive the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), the modified maximum likelihood estimator (MMLE) and the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator (UMVUE) of the common location parameter. Further, we derive a general result for inadmissibility of an equivariant estimator under the scaled-squared error loss function. Using this result, we conclude that the MLE and the UMVUE are inadmissible and better estimators are provided. A simulation study is conducted for comparing the performances of various competing estimators.     

Projection estimators of Pickands dependence functions

The authors consider the construction of intrinsic estimators for the Pickands dependence function of an extreme‐value copula. They show how an arbitrary initial estimator can be modified to satisfy the required shape constraints. Their solution consists in projecting this estimator in the space of Pickands functions, which forms a closed and convex subset of a Hilbert space. As the solution is not explicit, they replace this functional parameter space by a sieve of finite‐dimensional subsets. They establish the asymptotic distribution of the projection estimator and its finite‐dimensional approximations, from which they conclude that the projected estimator is at least as efficient as the initial one.     

Stress-Strength Reliability of a Two-Parameter Bathtub-shaped Lifetime Distribution Based on Progressively Censored Samples

Based on progressively Type-II censored samples, this article deals with inference for the stress-strength reliability R = P(Y < X) when X and Y are two independent two-parameter bathtub-shape lifetime distributions with different scale parameters, but having the same shape parameter. Different methods for estimating the reliability are applied. The maximum likelihood estimate of R is derived. Also, its asymptotic distribution is used to construct an asymptotic confidence interval for R. Assuming that the shape parameter is known, the maximum likelihood estimator of R is obtained. Based on the exact distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator of R an exact confidence interval of that has been obtained. The uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator are calculated for R. Bayes estimate of R and the associated credible interval are also got under the assumption of independent gamma priors. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to compare the performances of the proposed estimators. One data analysis has been performed for illustrative purpose. Finally, we will generalize this distribution to the proportional hazard family with two parameters and derive various estimators in this family.     

Modified maximum likelihood estimator under the Jones and Faddy's skew t-error distribution for censored regression model

It is well-known that classical Tobit estimator of the parameters of the censored regression (CR) model is inefficient in case of non-normal error terms. In this paper, we propose to use the modified maximum likelihood (MML) estimator under the Jones and Faddy''s skew t-error distribution, which covers a wide range of skew and symmetric distributions, for the CR model. The MML estimators, providing an alternative to the Tobit estimator, are explicitly expressed and they are asymptotically equivalent to the maximum likelihood estimator. A simulation study is conducted to compare the efficiencies of the MML estimators with the classical estimators such as the ordinary least squares, Tobit, censored least absolute deviations and symmetrically trimmed least squares estimators. The results of the simulation study show that the MML estimators work well among the others with respect to the root mean square error criterion for the CR model. A real life example is also provided to show the suitability of the MML methodology.     

On a preliminary test estimator for one of the parameters of the log-zero-poisson distribution

A discrete distribution called the log-zero-Poisson distribution has been recommended by Katti (c.f. Biometrics 1970) as an alternate to the negative binomial and other distributions usually called "contagious" distributions.A major problem in the use of this and all other contagious distributions has been the difficulty of obtaining the maximum likelihood esti-mates. A custom-made ad hoc estimator, λ, has been proposed for the parameter λ of this distribution in Katti and Khedr (1980). In this paper, its efficiency relative to Fisher information is studied, only to discover that λ can be 30 times better than the maximum likelihood estimate in some parts of the parameter space and much weaker in other parts.A preliminary test is recommended to choose between the estimates, and the efficiency of the procedure is tabulated. As it is to be expected, the resultant estimator equals the better of the two estimators with some error at the values of the parameters where the two estimators are equivalent.