1 Performance of Balanced Two-Stage Empirical Predictors of Realized Cluster Latent Values from Finite Populations: A Simulation Study

Predictors of random effects are usually based on the popular mixed effects model developed under the assumption that the sample is obtained from a conceptual infinite population even when the actual population is finite. Two alternatives that incorporate the finite nature of the population are the super-population model proposed by Scott and Smith (1969, JASA, 64: 830-840) and the random permutation model recently proposed by Stanek and Singer (2004, JASA, 99:1119-1130).,The random permutation model based predictor derived under the additional assumptions that all variance components are known and that within cluster variances are equal has smaller mean squared error than the corresponding predictors based on either the mixed effects or Scott and Smith’s models. As population variances are rarely known, we propose method of moment estimators to obtain empirical predictors and conduct a simulation study to evaluate thei