On the estimation of the true probability of a correct selection

For ranking and selection problems, the true probabiIity of a correct selection P(CS) is unknown even if a selection is made under the indifference-zone approach. Thus to estimate the true P(CS) some Bayes estimators and a bootstrap estimator are proposed for two normcal populations with common known variance. Also a bootstrap estimator and a bootstrap confidence interval are proposed for normal populations with common unknown variance. Some comparisons between proposed estimators and some other known estimators are made via Monte Carlo simulations.     

Bayesian Risk Ratio Analysis

The classical confidence interval approach has failed to find exact intervals, or even a consensus on the best approximate intervals, for the ratio of two binomial probabilities, the so-called risk ratio. The problem is reexamined from a Bayesian viewpoint, and a simple graphical presentation of the risk ratio assessment is given in such a way that sensitivity to the selected prior distribution can be readily examined.     

On Statistics Independent of a Sufficient Statistic: Basu's Lemma

The determination of optimal sample sizes for estimating the difference between population means to a desired degree of confidence and precision is a question of economic significance. This question, however, is generally not discussed in statistics texts. Sample sizes to minimize linear sampling costs are proportional to the population standard deviations and inversely proportional to the square roots of the unit sampling costs. Sensitivity analysis shows that the impact of the use of equal rather than optimal sample sizes on the amount of sampling and its cost is not great as long as the unit costs and population variances are comparable.     

Corrected profile likelihood confidence interval for binomial paired incomplete data

Clinical trials often use paired binomial data as their clinical endpoint. The confidence interval is frequently used to estimate the treatment performance. Tang et al. (2009) have proposed exact and approximate unconditional methods for constructing a confidence interval in the presence of incomplete paired binary data. The approach proposed by Tang et al. can be overly conservative with large expected confidence interval width (ECIW) in some situations. We propose a profile likelihood‐based method with a Jeffreys' prior correction to construct the confidence interval. This approach generates confidence interval with a much better coverage probability and shorter ECIWs. The performances of the method along with the corrections are demonstrated through extensive simulation. Finally, three real world data sets are analyzed by all the methods. Statistical Analysis System (SAS) codes to execute the profile likelihood‐based methods are also presented. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exact likelihood ratio and score confidence intervals for the binomial proportion

Many methods are available for computing a confidence interval for the binomial parameter, and these methods differ in their operating characteristics. It has been suggested in the literature that the use of the exact likelihood ratio (LR) confidence interval for the binomial proportion should be considered. This paper provides an evaluation of the operating characteristics of the two‐sided exact LR and exact score confidence intervals for the binomial proportion and compares these results to those for three other methods that also strictly maintain nominal coverage: Clopper‐Pearson, Blaker, and Casella. In addition, the operating characteristics of the two‐sided exact LR method and exact score method are compared with those of the corresponding asymptotic methods to investigate the adequacy of the asymptotic approximation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confidence intervals for the difference in paired Youden indices

Comparison of accuracy between two diagnostic tests can be implemented by investigating the difference in paired Youden indices. However, few literature articles have discussed the inferences for the difference in paired Youden indices. In this paper, we propose an exact confidence interval for the difference in paired Youden indices based on the generalized pivotal quantities. For comparison, the maximum likelihood estimate‐based interval and a bootstrap‐based interval are also included in the study for the difference in paired Youden indices. Abundant simulation studies are conducted to compare the relative performance of these intervals by evaluating the coverage probability and average interval length. Our simulation results demonstrate that the exact confidence interval outperforms the other two intervals even with small sample size when the underlying distributions are normal. A real application is also used to illustrate the proposed intervals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

More Powerful Tests from Confidence Interval p Values

In this article the problem of comparing two independent binomial populations is considered. It is shown that the test based on the confidence interval p value of Berger and Boos often is uniformly more powerful than the standard unconditional test. This test also requires less computational time.     

Comparison of Confidence Intervals on Between Group Variance in Unbalanced Heteroscedastic One-Way Random Models

A computer algorithm for computing the alternative distributions of the Wilcoxon signed rank statistic under shift alternatives is discussed. An explicit error bound is derived for the numeric integration approximation to these distributions.

A nonparametric process control procedure in which the standard CUSUM procedure is applied to the Wilcoxon signed rank statistic is discussed. In order to implement this procedure, the distribution of the Wilcoxon statistic under shift of the underlying distribution from its point of symmetry needs to be computed. The average run length of the nonparametric and parametric CUSUM are compared.     

Comparison of One-Sided Tolerance Limits in Unbalanced One-Way Random Models

Cox's discrete logistic model was extended to the study of the life table by Thompson (1977) to handle grouped survival data. Inferences about the effect of grouping are studies byMonte Carlo methods. The results show that the effect of grouping is not substantial. This approach is applied to the grouped data on liver cancer. The computer program developed for grouped censored data with continuous and indicator covariates is of practical importance and is available fromThe Ohio State University