Efficiency of Censored Reliability Studies

The s-expected gain in information provided by an experiment is used to help assess the loss of s-information through censoring in reliability studies. Large sample, relative s-efficiencies of censored studies compared to complete studies are calculated assuming the lifetime distribution is Weibull. For example, when q, the proportion (if type II censoring) or s-expected proportion (if type I censoring) of complete lifetimes to be censored, is up to about 20%, a censored study requires roughly 200q% extra observations for the same s-expected gain in s- information as a complete study. The results allow an ordering of studies with different sample sizes and stopping points with respect to their s- expected gains in s-information.