Shrinkage Estimation of the Exponential mean With Grouped Data

DOI: 10.5176/2251-1911_CMCGS16.19

Authors: Ayman Baklizi

Abstract: The problem of estimating the mean of the exponential distribution using grouped censored data is considered. Assuming that there is a prior information about the value of the mean, we developed two shrinkage estimators that utilize this prior information. The first suggested estimator is obtained such that it minimizes the mean squared error among a certain class of estimators while the other is based on the p-value resulted from testing certain hypothesis. The performances of these estimators are investigated and compared with the maximum likelihood estimator using Monte Carlo methods. It is found that these estimators are successful in taking advantage of the prior informations available.

Keywords: Censored Data; Grouped data; Shrinkage Estimation; Maximum Likelihood; Mean squared error.