Selecting the Best Population Using a Test for Equ

Authors: Hon Keung Tony Ng N Balakrishnan S Panchapakesan

Publish Date: 2007/03/29

Volume: 9, Issue: 2, Pages: 263-305

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Abstract

In this paper we first give an overview of the precedencetype test procedures Then we propose a nonparametric test based on early failures for the equality of two lifetime distributions against two alternatives concerning the best population This procedure utilizes the minimal Wilcoxon ranksum precedence statistic Ng and Balakrishnan 2002 2004 which can determine the difference between populations based on early 100q failures Hence this procedure can be useful in lifetesting experiments in biological as well as industrial settings After proposing the test procedure we derive the exact null distribution of the test statistic in the twosample case with equal or unequal sample sizes We also present the exact probability of correct selection under the Lehmann alternative Then we generalize the test procedure to the ksample situation Critical values for some sample sizes are presented Next we examine the performance of this test procedure under a locationshift alternative through Monte Carlo simulations Two examples are presented to illustrate our test procedure with selecting the best population as an objective

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