When has Bayesian analysis really made a difference???
With Kerrie Mengersen (QUT, Brisbane), we are launching a call for Bayesian “stories”, towards a collective paper/a special issue:
When has Bayesian analysis really made a difference?
Following the publication of “the theory that would not die” by Sharon McGrayne, about how Bayesian analysis contributed to science and the World in general, we [Kerrie Mengersen (QUT, Brisbane) and Christian Robert (Paris-Dauphine)] would like to put together a collection of six-page vignettes that describe real cases in which Bayesian analysis has been the only way to crack a really important problem.
To this end, we are launching a call for one page proposals that address the following questions.
- What was the big problem to be solved? We mean big.
- Why was it so difficult to solve statistically?
- What was the Bayesian resolution?
- Why couldn’t it be solved by other means? What were the shortcomings of other statistical solutions?
- What was the overall impact of this Bayesian analysis on the real world?
We will then review those proposals and select the most significant ones towards the production of six page vignettes, aiming them to be published in a special issue or a multiple authored paper of a mainstream statistical journal. The deadline for the submission of a one-page proposal is September 30. It should be sent to Christian P. Robert at bayesianstatistics@gmailcom in pdf format. The final deadline will depend on the journal editor.
Obviously, if you happen to be like me at JSM 2011 this week and have a proposal (or journal!) in mind, feel free to talk to me about this! (I have also been waiting ages for a copy—two, actually—of the theory that would not die towards the dual goals of reading it and writing a review, but both channels failed to deliver.)
Xi'an's Og 
July 24, 2015 at 5:26 am
[…] apt title for his discussion of the recent special issue (Feb 2014) of Statistical Science called “Big Bayes Stories” (edited by Sharon McGrayne, Kerrie Mengersen and Christian Robert.) For your […]
August 15, 2011 at 3:44 pm
[…] There was also an interesting review of George Martin’s A Dance with Dragons that is waiting for me at home! Sailing the Bahamas last week means I missed the review of Sharon McGrayne’s the theory that would not die, written by John Paulos. Here is his concluding paragraph (I won’t comment since I have not read Sharon’s book yet!): […]
August 3, 2011 at 11:59 pm
[…] JSM 2011, with a series of appointments at the Loews Hotel, whose only public outcome is that the vignettes on Bayesian statistics I called for in a previous post could end up being published in Statistical Science… I still […]