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Statisticians Should Not Tell Scientists What to Think

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Book cover Structural Changes and their Econometric Modeling (TES 2019)

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 808))

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Abstract

Some prominent schools of thought regarding the use of probability and statistics in science are reviewed. Different schools have different goals for statistics; that is not inappropriate. Mimetic modeling, whose goal is to mimic Nature’s behavior, is described and advocated. Both Bayesian analyses and some classical analyses may be appropriately applied to mimetic models. Statistics should not usurp scientific judgment and, in mimetic modeling, it does not.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is dedicated to the memory of William H. Batchelder, who often helped me by giving me insightful comments on my ideas. I have also benefitted from talking with and hearing the perspectives of Richard Chechile, Michael D. Lee, Richard Shiffrin, and Philip L. Smith.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Sciences Department, University of California–Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Donald Bamber

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  1. Donald Bamber
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Correspondence to Donald Bamber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Vladik Kreinovich

  2. Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Songsak Sriboonchitta

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Bamber, D. (2019). Statisticians Should Not Tell Scientists What to Think. In: Kreinovich, V., Sriboonchitta, S. (eds) Structural Changes and their Econometric Modeling. TES 2019. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 808. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04263-9_5

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