comparison of methods for the estimation of Weibull distribution parameters

Abstract

In this paper we study the different methods for estimation of the parameters of the Weibull distribution. These methods are compared in terms of their fits using the mean square error (MSE) and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) criteria to select the best method. Goodness-of-fit tests show that the Weibull distribution is a good fit to the squared returns series of weekly stock prices of Cornerstone Insurance PLC. Results show that the mean rank (MR) is the best method among the methods in the graphical and analytical procedures. Numerical simulation studies carried out show that the maximum likelihood estimation method (MLE) significantly outperformed other methods.