Skip to main content
Log in

Robust inference for the stress–strength reliability

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Statistical Papers Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We address the problem of robust inference about the stress–strength reliability parameter R = P(X < Y), where X and Y are taken to be independent random variables. Indeed, although classical likelihood based procedures for inference on R are available, it is well-known that they can be badly affected by mild departures from model assumptions, regarding both stress and strength data. The proposed robust method relies on the theory of bounded influence M-estimators. We obtain large-sample test statistics with the standard asymptotic distribution by means of delta-method asymptotics. The finite sample behavior of these tests is investigated by some numerical studies, when both X and Y are independent exponential or normal random variables. An illustrative application in a regression setting is also discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adimari G, Ventura L (2002) Quasi-likelihood from M-estimators: a numerical comparison with empirical likelihood. Stat Methods Appl 11: 175–185

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Adimari G, Chiogna M (2006) Partially parametric interval estimation of Pr(Y > X). Comput Stat Data Anal 51: 1875–1891

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Church JD, Harris B (1970) The estimation of reliability from stress–strength relationships. Technometrics 12: 49–54

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • DiCiccio TJ, Monti AC, Young GA (2006) Variance stabilization for a scalar parameter. J R Stat Soc B 68: 281–303

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Downton F (1973) The estimation of P(Y < X) in the normal case. Technometrics 15: 551–558

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Guttman I, Johnson RA, Bhattacharyya GK, Reiser B (1988) Confidence limits for stress–strength models with explanatory variables. Technometrics 30: 161–168

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Hadmy M (1995) Distribution-free confidence intervals for P(X < Y) based on independent samples of X and Y. Commun Stat B 24: 1005–1017

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampel FR, Ronchetti EM, Rousseeuw PJ, Stahel WA (1986) Robust statistics: the approach based on influence functions. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Harris B, Soms AP (1983) A note on a difficulty inherent in estimating reliability from stress–strength relationships. Nav Res Log Q 30: 659–663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helperin M, Gilbert P, Lachin J (1987) Distribution-free confidence intervals for P(X 1 < X 2). Biometrics 43: 71–80

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Heritier S, Ronchetti E (1994) Robust bounded influence tests in general parametric models. J Am Stat Assoc 89: 897–904

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang L, Wong ACM. (2008) A note on inference for P(X < Y) for right truncated exponentially distributed data. Stat Pap 49: 637–651

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kotz S, Lumelskii Y, Pensky M (2003) The stress–strength model and its generalizations: theory and applications. World Scientific, Singapore

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Markatou M, Ronchetti E (1997) Robust inference: the approach based on influence functions. In: Maddala GS, Rao CR (eds) Handbook of Statistics, vol 15. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 49–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Maronna RA, Martin D, Yohai V (2006) Robust statistics: theory and methods. Wiley, New York

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Stefanski LA, Boos DD (2002) The calculus of M-estimation. Am Stat 56: 29–38

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Tong H (1974) A note on the estimation of P(Y < X) in the negative exponential case. Technometrics 16: 625

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou W (2008) Statistical inference for P(X < Y). Stat Med 27: 257–279

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Greco.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Greco, L., Ventura, L. Robust inference for the stress–strength reliability. Stat Papers 52, 773–788 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-009-0286-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-009-0286-9

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification (2000)

Navigation