Parametric estimation for the location parameter for symmetric distributions using moving extremes ranked set sampling with application to trees data

A modification of ranked set sampling (RSS) called moving extremes ranked set sampling (MERSS) is considered parametrically, for the location parameter of symmetric distributions. A maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and a modified MLE are considered and their properties are studied. Their efficiency with respect to the corresponding estimators based on simple random sampling (SRS) are compared for the case of normal distribution. The method is studied under both perfect and imperfect ranking (with error in ranking). It appears that these estimators can be real competitors to the MLE using (SRS). The procedure is illustrated using tree data.