Generalized Confidence Interval for the Difference Between Percentiles of Birnbaum–Saunders Distributions and Its Application to PM2.5 in Thailand

Abstract

The Birnbaum–Saunders distribution is of particular interest for statistical inference. This distribution represents the failure time distribution in engineering. In addition, the Birnbaum–Saunders distribution is commonly used in different areas of science and engineering. Percentiles are a frequently employed statistical concept. Percentiles help ascertain the position of an observation concerning the percentage of data points below it. These percentiles serve as indicators of both the central tendency and the dispersion of data. While comparing two data distributions, the mean is typically the most dependable parameter for describing the population. However, in situations where the distribution exhibits significant skewness, percentiles may sometimes offer a more reliable representation. Herein, the confidence intervals for the difference between percentiles of Birnbaum–Saunders distributions were constructed by the generalized confidence interval (GCI) approach, the bootstrap approach, the Bayesian approach, and the highest posterior density (HPD) approach. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to evaluate the performance of the confidence intervals. The performance was considered via coverage probability and average width. The findings suggest that utilizing the GCI approach is advisable for estimating confidence intervals for the disparity between two percentiles. Ultimately, the outcomes of the simulation investigation, coupled with an application in the field of environmental sciences, were outlined.