Confidence Intervals for Quantiles of a Two-parameter Exponential Distribution under Progressive Type-II Censoring

Abstract

Confidence intervals for the pth-quantile Q of a two-parameter exponential distribution provide useful information on the plausible range of Q, and only inefficient equal-tail confidence intervals have been discussed in the statistical literature so far. In this article, the construction of the shortest possible confidence interval within a family of two-sided confidence intervals is addressed. This shortest confidence interval is always shorter, and can be substantially shorter, than the corresponding equal-tail confidence interval. Furthermore, the computational intensity of both methodologies is similar, and therefore it is advantageous to use the shortest confidence interval. It is shown how the results provided in this paper can apply to data obtained from progressive Type II censoring, with standard Type II censoring as a special case. The applications of more complex confidence interval constructions through acceptance set inversions that can employ prior information are also discussed.

Keywords:

• Confidence intervals
• Exponential distribution
• Quantiles
• Progressive Type II censoring
• Type II censoring
• Acceptance sets

Mathematics Subject Classification:

• Primary 62E15
• Secondary 62N05