February, 2003
© 2000, 2001, 2003 Scott S. Emerson, M.D., Ph.D.
Hierarchy of Statistical Goals: 16
Bayesian Inference
The actual implementation of Bayesian inference is a generalization of the diagnostic testing situation
The estimate of treatment effect is continuous, rather than just positive or negative
The parameter measuring a beneficial treatment is continuous, rather than just healthy or diseased
The quantification of the prior distribution is thus an entire distribution (a probability for every possible value of the treatment effect) rather than a single prevalence.