Babalola

University
Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD)

Course Code and Title CVE 802: Applied Statistics for Engineers
Good Estimators Should be Bias, Consistent, Sufficient, and Efficient. Discuss
Student Name Aruaman Kelvin Ataria
Due Date: 18 /05/ 2022
Aruaman Kelvin Ataria

Question: Good Estimators Should be Bias, Consistent, Sufficient, Efficient. Discuss?

To estimate means to value (to give value to). An estimator is any quantity generated from sample data that
provides information about a population variable that is unknown. For example, the sample mean(x̄) is an
estimator for the population mean, μ. Thus, a good estimator, by definition, is near to the parameter being
estimated. Nonetheless, its quality will be determined by the following properties: Bias, Consistent, Sufficient,
and Efficient.

To begin with, the bias of an estimator is the difference between the statistic’s expected value and the true
value of the population parameter. If the statistic is a true reflection of a population parameter it is
an unbiased estimator. If it is not a true reflection of a population parameter it is a biased estimator. For
example, if an estimator L is used to estimate β and E (L) = β + 4.1., L is a biased estimator of β. On the other
hand, if L is used to estimate β, then L is unbiased if E(L) = β.

Secondly, an estimator is considered to be “consistent” if it approaches the parameter closer and closer as the
sample size n grows. To put it another way, the estimator is said to be a consistent estimator if, as n approaches
infinity, the probability approaches 1 that it will diverge from the parameter by no more than an arbitrary
constant. For instance, the variance of a sample mean(x̄) is σ 2/n, which decreases to zero if the sample size n
increases. Hence, the sample mean is a consistent estimator for population mean, μ.

More so, an estimator is considered to be “sufficient” if it transmits as much information about the parameter
in the sample as possible. The importance of sufficiency stems from the fact that if a sufficient estimator exists,
it is completely unnecessary to examine any other estimator; a sufficient estimator guarantees that all
information a sample may provide with regard to the estimation of a parameter is put to use.

Furthermore, the term "efficient" relates to an estimator's sampling variability. When two unbiased estimators
compete, the one with the lower variance (for a given sample size) is considered to be comparatively more
efficient. In somewhat different terms, an estimator θ is said to be more efficient than another estimator θ2 for
θ if the variance of the first is smaller than the variance of the second. The smaller the estimator's variance,
the more concentrated the estimator's distribution around the parameter being estimated, and hence the better
this estimator.

To summarize, a good estimator is, by definition, close to the parameter being estimated. Its quality is
determined by only the following properties: consistent, sufficient, and efficient. Bias estimator does not have
a strong alignment of its predicted value with its parameter, yet it can be effective in a variety of situations.
One example is when a plus four confidence interval is used to generate a confidence interval for a population
proportion.
Aruaman Kelvin Ataria

REFERENCES
Courtney Taylor, 2019. Unbaised and Biased Estimators. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-unbiased-
estimator-3126502 [Accessed 18 May 2022].
Manul Shrivastava, 2017. What is an estimator. https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-qualities-of-a-good-
estimator-in-statistics [Accessed 17 May 2022].
McGuckian, D., 2019. How to tell if an estimator is biased or unbiased, example 92.5. [video] Available at:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP4r4wENSY4> [Accessed 18 May 2022].
tutorhelpdesk.com. 2022. Properties of Good Estimator Assignment Help Homework Help Online Live
Tutoring Help. [online] Available at: <https://www.tutorhelpdesk.com/homeworkhelp/Statistics-/Properties-
Of-Good-Estimator-Assignment-Help.html> [Accessed 18 May 2022].