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Discussion of David Freedman's “Some issues in the foundations of statistics”

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Abstract

While results from statistical modelling too often receive blind acceptance, we question whether there is any real alternative to use of modelling. This does not diminish the main point of Professor Freedman, which is that healthy scepticism towards models is needed. While agreeing with many of Professor Freedman's points concerning the “objectivist” debate, we argue that there is a Bayesian school of objectivists that possesses considerable advantages over the classical objectivist school. At the least, the “debate” needs to be enlarged to include this school.

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Berger, J. Discussion of David Freedman's “Some issues in the foundations of statistics”. Found Sci 1, 41–67 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00208724

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00208724

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