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On the curtailment of sampling
Author(s) -
Geisser Seymour
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
canadian journal of statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.804
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1708-945X
pISSN - 0319-5724
DOI - 10.2307/3315317
Subject(s) - interim , continuation , point estimation , observable , point (geometry) , bayesian probability , statistics , sampling (signal processing) , sample (material) , econometrics , mathematics , computer science , mathematical economics , political science , physics , law , geometry , filter (signal processing) , quantum mechanics , computer vision , thermodynamics , programming language
Abstract We address the problem of the curtailment or continuation of an experiment or trial at some interim point where say N observations are in hand and at least S > N observations had originally been scheduled for a decision. A Bayesian predictive approach is used to determine the probability that if one continued the trial with a further sample of size M where N +M ≥ S , one would come to a particular decision regarding a parameter or a future observable. This point of view can also be applied to significance tests if one is willing to admit the calculation as a subjective assessment.