Enhanced Estimation of the Unit Lindley Distribution Parameter via Ranked Set Sampling with Real-Data Application

This paper investigates various estimation methods for the parameters of the unit Lindley distribution (U-LD) under both ranked set sampling (RSS) and simple random sampling (SRS) designs. The distribution parameters are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation, ordinary least squares, weighted least squares, maximum product of spacings, minimum spacing absolute distance, minimum spacing absolute log-distance, minimum spacing square distance, minimum spacing square log-distance, linear-exponential, Anderson–Darling (AD), right-tail AD, left-tail AD, left-tail second-order, Cramér–von Mises, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to assess the performance of these estimators, ensuring an equal number of measuring units across both designs. Additionally, two real datasets of items failure time and COVID-19 are analyzed to illustrate the practical applicability of the proposed estimation methods. The findings reveal that RSS-based estimators consistently outperform their SRS counterparts in terms of mean squared error, bias, and efficiency across all estimation techniques considered. These results highlight the advantages of using RSS in parameter estimation for the U-LD distribution, making it a preferable choice for improved statistical inference.