On the choice of a noninformative prior for Bayesian inference of discretized normal observations

dc.contributor.authorElster, Clemens
dc.contributor.authorLira, Ignacio
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-20T23:58:16Z
dc.date.available2025-01-20T23:58:16Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractWe consider the task of Bayesian inference of the mean of normal observations when the available data have been discretized and when no prior knowledge about the mean and the variance exists. An application is presented which illustrates that the discretization of the data should not be ignored when their variability is of the order of the discretization step. We show that the standard (noninformative) prior for location-scale family distributions is no longer appropriate. We work out the reference prior of Berger and Bernardo, which leads to different and more reasonable results. However, for this prior the posterior also shows some non-desirable properties. We argue that this is due to the inherent difficulty of the considered problem, which also affects other methods of inference. We therefore complement our analysis by an empirical Bayes approach. While such proceeding overcomes the disadvantages of the standard and reference priors and appears to provide a reasonable inference, it may raise conceptual concerns. We conclude that it is difficult to provide a widely accepted prior for the considered problem.
dc.description.funderFondecyt (Chile)
dc.fuente.origenWOS
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s00180-011-0251-7
dc.identifier.issn0943-4062
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s00180-011-0251-7
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.uc.cl/handle/11534/95240
dc.identifier.wosidWOS:000303449800003
dc.issue.numero2
dc.language.isoen
dc.pagina.final235
dc.pagina.inicio219
dc.revistaComputational statistics
dc.rightsacceso restringido
dc.subjectBayesian inference
dc.subjectNoninformative prior
dc.subjectGrouped data
dc.titleOn the choice of a noninformative prior for Bayesian inference of discretized normal observations
dc.typeartículo
dc.volumen27
sipa.indexWOS
sipa.trazabilidadWOS;2025-01-12
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