Potential functions and conservative estimating functions (Q1327845)

The authors point out that the quasi-score function introduced by \textit{R. W. M. Wedderburn} [see e.g. Biometrika 61, 439-447 (1974; Zbl 0292.62050)] and \textit{P. McCullagh} [see e.g. Ann. Stat. 11, 59-67 (1983; Zbl 0507.62025)] does not inherit all important properties of the likelihood score function. Therefore they develop a method of projecting a true score function onto a class of conservative estimating functions. By construction, a potential function for the projected score exists having many properties of a log-likelihood function.