The Subjectivity of Scientists and the Bayesian Approach

by Press, S. James; Tanur, Judith M.

• ISBN13: 9780486802848
• ISBN10: 0486802841
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2016-03-16
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

"Press and Tanur argue that subjectivity has not only played a significant role in the advancement of science but that science will advance more rapidly if the modern methods of Bayesian statistical analysis replace some of the more classical twentieth-century methods." — SciTech Book News.
"An insightful work." ― Choice.
"Compilation of interesting popular problems … this book is fascinating." — Short Book Reviews, International Statistical Institute.
Subjectivity ― including intuition, hunches, and personal beliefs ― has played a key role in scientific discovery. This intriguing book illustrates subjective influences on scientific progress with historical accounts and biographical sketches of more than a dozen luminaries, including Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Pasteur, Freud, Einstein, Margaret Mead, and others. The treatment also offers a detailed examination of the modern Bayesian approach to data analysis, with references to the Bayesian theoretical and applied literature. Suitable for lay readers as well as science specialists, this survey will also appeal to historians of science and those interested in knowing more about the Bayesian approach.

Author Biography

S. James Press is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of California at Riverside. He is also the author of Bayesian Statistics: Principle, Models, and Applications and the Dover edition of  Applied Multivariate Analysis: Including Bayesian and Frequentist Methods of Inference.
Judith M. Tanur is Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita, Department of Sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is also the editor of Statistics: A Guide to the Unknown and Questions About Questions: Inquiries into the Cognitive Bases of Surveys.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Selecting the Scientists

3. Some Well-Known Stories of extreme Subjectivity

    3.1 Introduction

    3.2 Johannes Kepler

    3.3 Gregor Mendel

    3.4 Robert Millikan

    3.5 Cyril Burt

    3.6 Margaret Mead

4. Stories of Famous Scientists

    4.1 Introduction

    4.2 Aristotle

   4.3 Galileo Galilei

    4.4 William Harvey

    4.5 Sir Isaac Newton

    4.6 Antoine Lavoisier

    4.7 Alexander von Humboldt

    4.8 Michael Faraday

    4.9 Charles Darwin

    4.10 Louis Pasteur

    4.11 Sigmund Freud

    4.12 Marie Curie

    4.13 Albert Einstein

    4.14 Some Conjectures About the Scientists

5. Subjectivity in Science in Moderrn Times: The Bayesian Approach

Appendix: References by Field of Application for Bayesian Statistical Science

Bibliography

Subject Index

Name Index