The Myth Of Statistical Inference

This book proposes and explores the idea that the forced union of the aleatory and epistemic aspects of probability is a sterile hybrid, inspired and nourished for 300 years by a false hope of formalizing inductive reasoning, making uncertainty the object of precise calculation. Because this is not really a possible goal, statistical inference is not, cannot be, doing for us today what we imagine it is doing for us. It is for these reasons that statistical inference can be characterized as a myth. The book is aimed primarily at social scientists, for whom statistics and statistical inference are a common concern and frustration. Because the historical development given here is not merely anecdotal, but makes clear the guiding ideas and ambitions that motivated the formulation of particular methods, this book offers an understanding of statistical inference which has not hitherto been available. It will also serve as a supplement to the standard statistics texts. Finally, general readers will find here an interesting study with implications far beyond statistics. The development of statistical inference, to its present position of prominence in the social sciences, epitomizes a number of trends in Western intellectual history of the last three centuries, and the 11th chapter, considering the function of statistical inference in light of our needs for structure, rules, authority, and consensus in general, develops some provocative parallels, especially between epistemology and politics.

This book proposes and explores the idea that the forced union of the aleatory and epistemic aspects of probability is a sterile hybrid, inspired and nourished for 300 years by a false hope of formalizing inductive reasoning, making uncertainty the object of precise calculation. Because this is not really a possible goal, statistical inference is not, cannot be, doing for us today what we imagine it is doing for us. It is for these reasons that statistical inference can be characterized as a myth. The book is aimed primarily at social scientists, for whom statistics and statistical inference are a common concern and frustration. Because the historical development given here is not merely anecdotal, but makes clear the guiding ideas and ambitions that motivated the formulation of particular methods, this book offers an understanding of statistical inference which has not hitherto been available. It will also serve as a supplement to the standard statistics texts. Finally, general readers will find here an interesting study with implications far beyond statistics. The development of statistical inference, to its present position of prominence in the social sciences, epitomizes a number of trends in Western intellectual history of the last three centuries, and the 11th chapter, considering the function of statistical inference in light of our needs for structure, rules, authority, and consensus in general, develops some provocative parallels, especially between epistemology and politics.

Intended as a text for the postgraduate students of statistics, this well-written book gives a complete coverage of Estimation theory and Hypothesis testing, in an easy-to-understand style. It is the outcome of the authors’ teaching experience over the years. The text discusses absolutely continuous distributions and random sample which are the basic concepts on which Statistical Inference is built up, with examples that give a clear idea as to what a random sample is and how to draw one such sample from a distribution in real-life situations. It also discusses maximum-likelihood method of estimation, Neyman’s shortest confidence interval, classical and Bayesian approach. The difference between statistical inference and statistical decision theory is explained with plenty of illustrations that help students obtain the necessary results from the theory of probability and distributions, used in inference.

Statistics is a subject with a vast field of application, involving problems which vary widely in their character and complexity.However, in tackling these, we use a relatively small core of central ideas and methods. This book attempts to concentrateattention on these ideas: they are placed in a general settingand illustrated by relatively simple examples, avoidingwherever possible the extraneous difficulties of complicatedmathematical manipulation.In order to compress the central body of ideas into a smallvolume, it is necessary to assume a fair degree of mathematicalsophistication on the part of the reader, and the book is intendedfor students of mathematics who are already accustomed tothinking in rather general terms about spaces and functions

Addressing 30 statistical myths in the areas of data, estimation, measurement system analysis, capability, hypothesis testing, statistical inference, and control charts, this book explains how to understand statistics rather than how to do statistics. Every statistical myth listed in this book has been stated in course materials used by the author

Based on the authors' lecture notes, this text presents concise yet complete coverage of statistical inference theory, focusing on the fundamental classical principles. Unlike related textbooks, it combines the theoretical basis of statistical inference with a useful applied toolbox that includes linear models. Suitable for a second semester undergraduate course on statistical inference, the text offers proofs to support the mathematics and does not require any use of measure theory. It illustrates core concepts using cartoons and provides solutions to all examples and problems.

Unlock today's statistical controversies and irreproducible results by viewing statistics as probing and controlling errors.