Testing the difference of two exponential means using generalized _p-values

Abstract

There are no exact fixed-level tests for testing the null hypothesis that the difference of two exponential means is less than or equal to a prespecified value θ₀. For this testing problem, there are several approximate testing procedures available in the literature. Using an extended definition of p-values, Tsui and Weerahandi (1989) gave an exact significance test for this testing problem. In this paper, the performance of that procedure is investigated and is compared with approximate procedures. A size and power comparison is carried out using a simulation study. Its findings show that the test based on the generalized p-value guarantees the intended size and that it is either as good as or outperforms approximate procedures available in the literature, both in power and in size.

Keywords:

• Generalized p-values
• Two sample exponential problem
• Williams-Tukey interval