Parameter Estimation of Binned Data

Section 1: Introduction – The Problem of Binned Data

Hypothetically, say you’re given data like this in Table 1 below, and you’re asked to find the mean:

Group	Frequency
0 to 25	114
25 to 50	76
50 to 75	58
75 to 100	51
100 to 250	140
250 to 500	107
500 to 1000	77
1000 to 5000	124
5000 or more	42

Table 1: Example Binned Data.
Border cases go to the lower bin.

The immediate problem is that the mean (and the variance, and many other statistics) is the average of exact values by we have ranges of values. There are a few things similar to getting the mean that could be done:

The Last Review I'll Do For the Open Journal of Statistics

The following review is for a paper that is currently published in the Scientific Research Publishing's Open Journal of Statistics (link omitted intentionally). I accepted the responsibility to review it, found it unfit for publication, and returned a review less than a month later only to find that the paper had already been published as is.

I won't be reviewing for this journal or this publishing house again. To ask for my review, get my assent, and not wait a reasonable time (a month, really?), for the review before going ahead and publishing is disrespectful of my time. It also smacks of predatory journal behaviour. 

Was there another peer reviewer and were they qualified to perform the review? Read my review, and the paper, and judge for yourself.

How to Give a Career Talk, with Question Prompts!

A few of the people I've asked have been interested in talking in front of seminar class on careers in statistics, but didn't think they could fill a half-hour with their career talk. However, with prompts adapted from this list, external speakers have had no trouble giving such a talk with at most a couple hours of preparation.

Applying for a Master’s Degree in Stats or Data Science – Why and How

Why apply for an MSc, instead of finishing with a BSc in Stats or Data Science?

Statistics is a ‘discovered major’. Traditionally, not many people have gone into university planning to be a statistics major early-on. It also relies, as an unofficial prerequisite, on a wide range of skills that are typically learned in an undergrad degree.

For example, a statistician is expected to have a background in mathematics, in writing and communication, and in programming. They’re also expected to know a little about their respective service or collaboration fields.