Hierarchical Bayes procedures for the two-parameter logistic item response model were compared for estimating item and ability parameters. Simulated data sets were analyzed via two joint and two marginal Bayesian estimation procedures. The marginal Bayesian estimation procedures yielded consistently smaller root mean square differences than the joint Bayesian estimation procedures for item and ability estimates. As the sample size and test length increased, the four Bayes procedures yielded essentially the same result.

A joint Bayesian estimation procedure for the estimation of parameters in the three-parameter logistic model is developed in this paper. Procedures for specifying prior beliefs for the parameters are given. It is shown through simulation studies that the Bayesian procedure (i) ensures that the estimates stay in the parameter space, and (ii) produces better estimates than the joint maximum likelihood procedure as judged by such criteria as mean squared differences between estimates and true values.

We consider a deconvolution problem of estimating a signal blurred with a random noise.The noise is assumed to be a stationary Gaussian process multiplied by a weight function function εh where h ∈ L2(R1) and ε is a small parameter. The underlying solution is assumed to be infinitely differentiable. For this model we find asymptotically minimax andBayes estimators. In the case of solutions having finite number ofderivatives similar results were obtained in [G.K. Golubev and R.Z. Khasminskii, IMS Lecture Notes Monograph Series36 (2001) 419–433].

This paper shows how a multivariate Bayes estimator can be adjusted to satisfy a set of linear constraints. In the direct approach, the constraint is enforced by a restriction on the class of admissible estimators. In an alternative approach, the constraint is merely encouraged by a mixed risk function which penalises misbalance between the estimator and the constraint. The adjustment to the optimal unconstrained estimator is shown to depend on the risk function and the linear constraints only, not on the probability model underlying the Bayes estimator. Two practical examples are given, one of which involves reconciliation of independently assessed share values with current market values.