Ebook: Statistical Inference: Theory and Practice

Use and misuse of statistics seems to be the signum temporis of past decades. But nowadays this practice seems slowly to be wearing away, and common sense and responsibility recapturing their position. It is our contention that little by little statistics should return to its starting point, i.e., to formalizing and analyzing empirical phenomena. This requires the reevalu­ ation of many traditions and the rejection of many myths. We hope that our book would go some way towards this aim. We show the sharp conflict between what is needed and what is feasible. Moreover, we show how slender are the links between theory and practice in statistical inference, links which are sometimes no more than mutual inspiration. In Part One we present the consecutive stages of formalization of statistical problems, i.e., the description of the experiment, the presentation of the aim of the investigation, and of the constraints put upon the decision rules. We stress the fact that at each of these stages there is room for arbitrariness. We prove that the links between the real problem and its formal counterpart are often so weak that the solution of the formal problem may have no rational interpretation at the practical level. We give a considerable amount of thought to the reduction of statistical problems.

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Introduction....Pages 1-10
Statistical Description of Empirical Phenomena....Pages 11-25
A scheme of a statistical problems....Pages 26-52
Discriminant analysis....Pages 53-85
Screening problems....Pages 86-105
Evaluation of stochastic dependence....Pages 106-136
Statistical problems of population genetics....Pages 137-159
Paternity Proving(1)....Pages 160-194
Studies on sister cells....Pages 195-222
Survival analysis for censored data....Pages 223-244
Latent variables in experimental psychology....Pages 245-265
Queueing models of computer systems....Pages 266-282
Back Matter....Pages 283-312

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Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Introduction....Pages 1-10
Statistical Description of Empirical Phenomena....Pages 11-25
A scheme of a statistical problems....Pages 26-52
Discriminant analysis....Pages 53-85
Screening problems....Pages 86-105
Evaluation of stochastic dependence....Pages 106-136
Statistical problems of population genetics....Pages 137-159
Paternity Proving(1)....Pages 160-194
Studies on sister cells....Pages 195-222
Survival analysis for censored data....Pages 223-244
Latent variables in experimental psychology....Pages 245-265
Queueing models of computer systems....Pages 266-282
Back Matter....Pages 283-312
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