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Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

objectivebayesian.com

1–10 of 19 posts

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#2
When the author says "objective" they are referring to a prior that gives equal weight to values within the null hypothesis and to those without (along with a few other things: symmetric and non-increasing away from the mean). I appreciate this approach, and think there's much to commend it, but think that that's a key thing to be aware of (because any use of "objective" when referring to priors is, shall we say, dubious).

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#3
This article is very interesting and informative, however it's a bit ironic that an article about misinterpretations of the meaning of the p-value, misinterprets the misinterpretation; in the first blue box it's clear that Bernstein is interpreting the p-value as the probability of randomly rejecting the null (which is what you do when you get something statistically significant) yet in the text following that they say he's interpreting it as the probability of the null. Bernsteins mistake is that he appears to interpret it as an unconditional probability rather than a conditional one (correct interpretation; p-value = Prob(rejecting the null when the null is true)).

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#4
post #2

When the author says "objective" they are referring to a prior that gives equal weight to values within the null hypothesis and to those without (along with a few other things: symmetric and non-increasing away from the mean). I appreciate this approach, and think there's much to commend it, but think that that's a key thing to be aware of (because any use of "objective" when referring to priors is, shall we say, dub…

Yes, it would be nice to know how things change for different weightings of the null and alternative priors.

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#5

This article is very interesting and informative, however it's a bit ironic that an article about misinterpretations of the meaning of the p-value, misinterprets the misinterpretation; in the first blue box it's clear that Bernstein is interpreting the p-value as the probability of randomly rejecting the null (which is what you do when you get something statistically significant) yet in the text following that they s…

Yes I had the same issue. But the wording "there is a 95% probability that the outcome was not the result of chance", so it is easier to misinterpret than the technical definition P( Observation | H_0 ).

In courses I will typically use wordings like "If there was truly no association, then the probability of getting an observation like this is <5%".

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#6
A great question that I came across in Hypothesis Driven Development a long time ago: Should you use Frequentist Statistics or Bayesian Statistics? It's relevant when you do A/B or Multivariate Testing.

As it was very difficult for someone like me without higher stats or math education, I can highly recommend the following additional sources:

- https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(21)03256-9/ful...

- https://amplitude.com/blog/frequentist-vs-bayesian-statistic...

- https://indico.cern.ch/event/568904/contributions/2651065/at...

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#7

A great question that I came across in Hypothesis Driven Development a long time ago: Should you use Frequentist Statistics or Bayesian Statistics? It's relevant when you do A/B or Multivariate Testing. As it was very difficult for someone like me without higher stats or math education, I can highly recommend the following additional sources: - https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(21)03256-9/ful... - https:/…

The Bayesian approach to A/B testing gives an interesting example of how frequentists and Bayesian approaches can differ.

A frequentist approach tries to limit the probability that a test setup will accept a 'false' result, one that could simply arise by chance.

A Bayesian approach actually calculates the probability that a test result could occur 'by chance'. You can then stop the test at any point and be sure you only accept The interesting thing is that while these would seem to be very similar, there actually isn't anything stopping the Bayesian approach from accepting any test eventually. Giving it 0 statistical power in the frequentist sense. The only thing the Bayesian approach ensures is that for any 'false' test you accept after time T there are many more that will keep running.

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#8

This article is very interesting and informative, however it's a bit ironic that an article about misinterpretations of the meaning of the p-value, misinterprets the misinterpretation; in the first blue box it's clear that Bernstein is interpreting the p-value as the probability of randomly rejecting the null (which is what you do when you get something statistically significant) yet in the text following that they s…

> correct interpretation; p-value = Prob(rejecting the null when the null is true)

This is also not quite correct. The p-value is the probability of falsely rejecting the null due to sampling error. It is quiet on all other errors that are frequently committed.

The real probability of falsely rejecting the null starts at 15 % thanks to mathematical slip-ups alone: https://two-wrongs.com/the-lying-p-value

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#9
post #7

A great question that I came across in Hypothesis Driven Development a long time ago: Should you use Frequentist Statistics or Bayesian Statistics? It's relevant when you do A/B or Multivariate Testing. As it was very difficult for someone like me without higher stats or math education, I can highly recommend the following additional sources: - https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(21)03256-9/ful... - https:/…

The Bayesian approach to A/B testing gives an interesting example of how frequentists and Bayesian approaches can differ. A frequentist approach tries to limit the probability that a test setup will accept a 'false' result, one that could simply arise by chance. A Bayesian approach actually calculates the probability that a test result could occur 'by chance'. You can then stop the test at any point and be sure you o…

Why would you care about that though? Calculate the odds between your hypotheses, not the probability you'd ever see one.

Re: Objective Bayesian Hypothesis Testing

#10
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bayesian approach to A/B testing gives an interesting example of how frequentists and Bayesian approaches can differ. A frequentist approach tries to limit the probability that a test setup will accept a 'false' result, one that could simply arise by chance. A Bayesian approach actually calculates the probability that a test result could occur 'by chance'. You can then stop the test at any point and be sure you o…

Why would you care about that though? Calculate the odds between your hypotheses, not the probability you'd ever see one.

The Bayesian stance is that you should not care. The frequentist stance is that a test that has a p-value of 1 is the worst possible.

My stance is that you should know why to care about either. Oh and that the thing you're calculating an expected value off should somehow contribute linearly to your profits/costs, averages do strange things to nonlinear functions.

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