Statistical Inference

An Integrated Bayesian/Likelihood Approach

  • Price: $89.95 $80.96
  • Hardback: 254 pages
  • Also available in e-Book
  • Published: June 2010
  • ISBN: 978-1-4200934-3-8
  • Publisher: Chapman & Hall

Sharing & Social Bookmarking:

Question about this product?

Series: Chapman & Hall/CRC Monographs on Statistics & Applied Probability.

Filling a gap in current Bayesian theory, Statistical Inference: An Integrated Bayesian/Likelihood Approach presents a unified Bayesian treatment of parameter inference and model comparisons that can be used with simple diffuse prior specifications. This novel approach provides new solutions to difficult model comparison problems and offers direct Bayesian counterparts of frequentist t-tests and other standard statistical methods for hypothesis testing.

After an overview of the competing theories of statistical inference, the book introduces the Bayes/likelihood approach used throughout. It presents Bayesian versions of one- and two-sample t-tests, along with the corresponding normal variance tests. The author then thoroughly discusses the use of the multinomial model and noninformative Dirichlet priors in "model-free" or nonparametric Bayesian survey analysis, before covering normal regression and analysis of variance. In the chapter on binomial and multinomial data, he gives alternatives, based on Bayesian analyses, to current frequentist nonparametric methods. The text concludes with new goodness-of-fit methods for assessing parametric models and a discussion of two-level variance component models and finite mixtures.

Emphasizing the principles of Bayesian inference and Bayesian model comparison, this book develops a unique methodology for solving challenging inference problems. It also includes a concise review of the various approaches to inference.

Table of Contents

Theories of Statistical Inference

Example

Statistical models

The likelihood function

Theories

Nonmodel-based repeated sampling

Conclusion

The Integrated Bayes/Likelihood Approach

Introduction

Probability

Prior ignorance

The importance of parametrization

The simple/simple hypothesis testing problem

The simple/composite hypothesis testing problem

Posterior likelihood approach

Bayes factors

The comparison of unrelated models

Example—GHQ score and psychiatric diagnosis

t-Tests and Normal Variance Tests

One-sample t-test

Two samples: equal variances

The two-sample test

Two samples: different variances

The normal model variance

Variance heterogeneity test

Unified Analysis of Finite Populations

Sample selection indicators

The Bayesian bootstrap

Sampling without replacement

Regression models

More general regression models

The multinomial model for multiple populations

Complex sample designs

A complex example

Discussion

Regression and Analysis of Variance

Multiple regression

Nonnested models

Binomial and Multinomial Data

Single binomial samples

Single multinomial samples

Two-way tables for correlated proportions

Multiple binomial samples

Two-way tables for categorical responses—no fixed margins

Two-way tables for categorical responses—one fixed margin

Multinomial "nonparametric" analysis

Goodness of Fit and Model Diagnostics

Frequentist model diagnostics

Bayesian model diagnostics

The posterior predictive distribution

Multinomial deviance computation

Model comparison through posterior deviances

Examples

Simulation study

Discussion

Complex Models

The data augmentation algorithm

Two-level variance component models

Test for a zero variance component

Finite mixtures

References

Author Index

Subject Index

Author Biography

Murray Aitkin is an honorary professorial fellow in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Customers who bought Statistical Inference also bought:

  • Using R for Data Management, Statistical Analysis, and Graphics

    Using R for Data Management, Statistical Analysis, and Graphics

  • Bayesian Model Selection and Statistical Modeling

    Bayesian Model Selection and Statistical Modeling

  • Time Series

    Time Series

    Modeling, Computation, and Inference

  • Applied Bayesian Hierarchical Methods

    Applied Bayesian Hierarchical Methods

  • Expansions and Asymptotics for Statistics

    Expansions and Asymptotics for Statistics