|
 |
"Bayes Offers a 'New' Way to Make Sense of Numbers," by David Malakoff. Science, 19 November 1999, pages 1460-1464.
After years of skepticism and intractability, Bayesian statistics is coming into its own. This approach allows researchers to use everything from hunches to hard data to compute the probability that a hypothesis is correct. Many statisticians have feared that because Bayesian analysis can take into account prior opinion, it could spawn less objective evaluations of experimental results. But, as technology and new algorithms have made Bayesian methods faster to calculate, researchers are increasingly using the approach; in fact, drug companies are beginning to use Bayesian techniques in an effort to speed up clinical trials required by the Food and Drug Administration. While skeptism persists, many statisticians are calling for a more widespread use of and eduation in Bayesian statistics.
--- Benjamin Stein
 |
Comments: Email Webmaster |
