A one-parameter discrete distribution for over-dispersed data: statistical and reliability properties with applications

J Appl Stat. 2021 Mar 30;49(10):2467-2487. doi: 10.1080/02664763.2021.1905787. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

In the literature of distribution theory, a vast proportion is acquired by discrete distributions and their applications in real-world phenomena. However, in a rapidly changing technological era, the data generated is becoming increasingly complex day by day, making it difficult for us to capture various aspects of this real data through existing discrete models. In view of this, we propose a new flexible discrete distribution with one parameter. Some statistical and reliability are derived. These properties can be expressed as closed-forms. One of the important virtues of this newly evolved model is that it can model not only over-dispersed, positively skewed and leptokurtic data sets, but it can also be utilized for modeling increasing, decreasing and unimodal failure rate. Various estimation approaches are utilized to estimate the model parameter. A simulation study is carried out to examine the performance of the estimators for different sample size. The flexibility of the new model for analyzing different types of data is explained by utilizing four real data sets in different fields. Finally, the proposed model can serve as an alternative model to other distributions in the existing literature for modeling positive real data in several areas.

Keywords: 60E05; 62E10; 62F10; 62N05; Discrete distribution; estimation methods; hazard rate function; simulation.