This article presents a simulation study
that maximum likelihood estimates of k can be biased upward by small sample size or under - reporting of zero - class events ,
This article presents a simulation study exploring the bias , precision , and confidence interval coverage of maximum - likelihood estimates of k from highly overdispersed distributions .
Results show that maximum likelihood estimates of k can be biased upward by small sample size or under - reporting of zero - class events , but are not biased downward by any of the factors considered .