Making statistics work information theory and Bayesian inference Duncan Foley and Ellis Scharfenaker

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foley, Duncan K., author.

Scharfenaker, Ellis, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bayesian statistical decision theory.

Information theory.

Statistics.

statistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

illustration

Place of Publication:

Columbia University Press (Lightning Source), 2026.

New York Columbia University Press [2026]

Summary:

Conventional "frequentist" methods that dominate the field of statistics are generally inconsistent and liable to catastrophic failure in some contexts. These weaknesses have become particularly concerning in relation to crises of replicability and credibility in science. Two alternatives have been proposed to address these flaws-classical Bayesian inference and the principle of maximum entropy-but the connections between them remain controversial. Making Statistics Work presents a synthesis of information theory and Bayesian inference that addresses these fundamental problems. It provides a consistent, powerful, and flexible framework for data inference based on rigorous logic derived from first principles, allowing for new approaches to many of the unresolved questions of statistics.-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Part I. Basic concepts

The statistical problem

Probability

Probabilities and information

Likelihoods and data

Priors and constraints

Organizing statistical inference

Part II. Multinomial models

The binomial model for repeated Bernoulli trials

The multinomial model

The quantal response model

Fourier transforms and time series

Complex amplitudes as multinomial parameters

Part III. Real number observations

Real scalar statistics

Real vector statistics

Part IV. Advanced topics

Constrained maximum entropy

Confounding variables and limited information

Part V. Philosophical and methodological puzzles

De Finetti's economic model of probability

The frequency model of probability

Mathematical appendix

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from digital title page (EBSCO, viewed August 13, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version Foley, Duncan Making statistics work

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780231564038

0231564031

9780231566131

0231566131

OCLC:

1596674775

Publisher Number:

CIPO000391898

CIPO000391888

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license