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A Note on the Reliability Tests of Estimates from ARMS Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

C. S. Kim
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC
C. Hallahan
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC
W. Lindamood
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC
G. Schaible
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC
J. Payne
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Washington, DC

Abstract

USDA uses the concept of “publish-ability” rather than statistical reliability of an estimate for quality validation of USDA estimates, which is solely based on the sample size and the coefficient of variation (CV). We demonstrate conceptually how the reliability of the sample mean can be tested by estimating the upper and lower bounds of the confidence interval for an unknown population mean using the CV. However, the reliability test for the sample mean can be made only under the normality assumption. USDA multiple-way Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) estimates are used to illustrate the relative measure of precision for sample-based estimators.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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