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A Full Bayesian Non‐parametric Analysis Involving a Neutral to the Right Process
Author(s) -
Walker Stephen,
Damien Paul
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.359
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1467-9469
pISSN - 0303-6898
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9469.00128
Subject(s) - dirichlet process , posterior probability , bayesian probability , parametric statistics , mathematics , dirichlet distribution , interpretation (philosophy) , bayes' theorem , class (philosophy) , computer science , statistics , artificial intelligence , mathematical analysis , programming language , boundary value problem
Implementation of a full Bayesian non‐parametric analysis involving neutral to the right processes (apart from the special case of the Dirichlet process) has been difficult for two reasons: first, the posterior distributions are complex and therefore only Bayes estimates (posterior expectations) have previously been presented; secondly, it is difficult to obtain an interpretation for the parameters of a neutral to the right process. In this paper we extend Ferguson & Phadia (1979) by presenting a general method for specifying the prior mean and variance of a neutral to the right process, providing the interpretation of the parameters. Additionally, we provide the basis for a full Bayesian analysis, via simulation, from the posterior process using a hybrid of new algorithms that is applicable to a large class of neutral to the right processes (Ferguson & Phadia only provide posterior means). The ideas are exemplified through illustrative analyses.