Skip to content
Part BCSIR NET June 2024parameter-free-category-carries-no-information

Parameter free category carries no information

Consider a distribution with probability mass function f(x | θ)=(1−θ)/2\theta) = (1 - \theta)/2 if x = 0; 1/2 if x=1;θ/2x = 1; \theta/2 if x = 2; and 0 otherwise, where θ∈(0,1)\theta \in (0, 1) is an unknown parameter. In a random sample of size 100 from the above distribution, the observed counts of 0, 1 and 2 are 20, 30 and 50 respectively. Then, the maximum likelihood estimate of θ\theta based on the observed data is

  1. A.1
  2. B.5/7✓ Correct
  3. C.1/2
  4. D.2/7

You have the answer. Trap Analysis is why the other three were written.

Not a worked solution repeated four times — the specific reasoning error each wrong option was built to reward, and why this one tests what the inference means.

See pricing

50 are analysed free — try those first.

The trap it tests

What the inference means

p-values, size, power and error types say specific things. This was not one of them.

Drill statements like this

Related counterexample: The MLE is unbiased

More on this topic

The chapter behind this: Maximum likelihood and the method of moments — free to read

From Estimation › MLE and method of moments

Last revised . Found a mistake? Tell us — corrections are the fastest thing we act on.

ShareWhatsAppTelegram