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Asymptotic Methods in Statistical Inference - Statistics Centre

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96<br />

• Example: Estimate ( ≤ ) = () froma<br />

sample 1 . If is the ( 1) d.f. then<br />

() =Φ( − ) =(). We take 1 = ( ¯)<br />

with 1 2 = £ 0 () ¤ 2 = 2 ( − ).<br />

One might <strong>in</strong>stead use the ‘plug-<strong>in</strong>’ estimate:<br />

2 = ˆ () = # { ≤ } ( ())<br />

∼ <br />

<br />

<br />

2 2 = ()[1− ()] = Φ( − )[1− Φ( − )] <br />

Then<br />

2 ( − )<br />

21 =<br />

Φ( − )[1− Φ( − )] <br />

Some calculus shows that this is maximized at<br />

− =0,with<br />

2 (0)<br />

21 ≤<br />

Φ(0) [1 − Φ(0)] =42 (0) = 2 ≈ 64<br />

Thus the MLE 1 requires fewer than 23 asmany<br />

observations for an asymptotic CI of the same<br />

width (many fewer if | − | is even moderately<br />

large).<br />

Does this mean that 1 is necessarily preferred for<br />

estimat<strong>in</strong>g ( ≤ )? Why or why not?

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