Coherent Frequentism: A Decision Theory Based on Confidence Sets
Authors:
David R. Bickel
Affiliation:
1. Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology and Department of Mathematics and Statistics , University of Ottawa , Ottawa , Ontario , Canada dbickel@uottawa.ca
Abstract:
By representing fair betting odds according to one or more pairs of confidence set estimators, dual parameter distributions called confidence posteriors secure the coherence of actions without any prior distribution. This theory reduces to the maximization of expected utility when the pair of posteriors is induced by an exact or approximate confidence set estimator or when a reduction rule is applied to the pair. Unlike the p-value, the confidence posterior probability of an interval hypothesis is suitable as an estimator of the indicator of hypothesis truth since it converges to 1 if the hypothesis is true or to 0 otherwise.