Exposure Estimation in the Presence of Nondetectable Values: Another Look

A common problem faced by industrial hygienists is the selection of a valid way of dealing with those samples reported to contain nondetectable values of the contaminant. In 1990, Hornung and Reed compared a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) statistical method and two methods involving the limit of detection, L. The MLE method was shown to produce unbiased estimates of both the mean and standard deviation under a variety of conditions. That …