Properties of Good Estimators (Continued) Efficient Estimator The efficiency of an estimator depends on its variance.

If and are two unbiased estimators of . The is a more efficient estimator if, in repeated sampling with a given sample size, its variance is smaller than that of . The estimator with the smallest variance will more closely estimate the parameter. If ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ), because that means that the former

is more efficient than , if shows less dispersion.

Consistent Estimator An estimator is consistent if, as n increases, the value of the statistic approaches the parameter. For an estimate to be consistent it must be unbiased and its variance must approach zero as the sample size, n, increases. As n gets larger, . If a statistic is not consistent estimator, taking a larger sample to improve your estimate will not be helpful.

will approach zero. Therefore, it can be said that the is a consistent estimator of