Fisher information per observation and per trial
ID: fisher-information-per-observation-and-per-trial
Precision comparisons using Fisher information must specify what one observation records. A Bernoulli distribution with success probability gives information per trial. A geometric distribution on records the number of trials until the first success. Its log-likelihood for one waiting time is , soAt equal numbers of observations, geometric waiting times therefore provide times as much information, and the asymptotic variance of their maximum-likelihood estimator is times the Bernoulli variance. But each waiting time uses an expected trials. Information per expected underlying trial is consequently . This separates an observation count from the cost of collecting the observations.
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