Quotient of information matrices in comparison of linear experiments for quadratic estimation

Abstract

Abstract The ordering of normal linear experiments with respect to quadratic estimation, introduced by Stępniak in [Ann. Inst. Statist. Math. A 49 (1997), 569-584], is extended here to the experiments involving the nuisance parameters. Typical experiments of this kind are induced by allocations of treatments in the blocks. Our main tool, called quotient of information matrices, may be interesting itself. It is known that any orthogonal allocation of treatments in blocks is optimal with respect to linear estimation of all treatment contrasts. We show that such allocation is, however, not optimal for quadratic estimation.