The fiducial argument and hacking's principle of irrelevance |
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| Authors: | R. R. Harris E. F. Harding |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Mathematics , Statistics &2. Operational Research Sheffield City Polytechnic , Sheffield , UK;3. Statistical Laboratory , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK |
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| Abstract: | In a searching analysis of the fiducial argument Hacking (1965) proposed the Principle of Irrelevance as a condition under which the argument is valid. His statement of the Principle was essentially non-mathematical and this paper presents a mathematical development of the Principle. The relationship with likelihood inference is explored and some of the proposed counter-examples to fiducial theory are considered. It is shown that even with the Principle of Irrelevance examples of non-uniqueness of fiducial distributions exist. |
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| Keywords: | Fiducial inference Principle of Irrelevance likelihood inference |
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