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Discussion: Should Ecologists Become Bayesians?
Author(s) -
Dennis Brian
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.2307/2269594
Subject(s) - frequentist inference , bayesian probability , bayesian statistics , bayesian econometrics , computer science , contrast (vision) , bayesian inference , ecology , data science , artificial intelligence , biology
Bayesian statistics involve substantial changes in the methods and philosophy of science. Before adopting Bayesian approaches, ecologists should consider carefully whether or not scientific understanding will be enhanced. Frequentist statistical methods, while imperfect, have made an unquestioned contribution to scientific progress and are a workhorse of day‐to‐day research. Bayesian statistics, by contrast, have a largely untested track record. The papers in this special section on Bayesian statistics exemplify the difficulties inherent in making convincing scientific arguments with Bayesian reasoning.