reading classics (#7)

Last Monday, my student Li Chenlu presented the foundational 1962 JASA paper by Allan Birnbaum, On the Foundations of Statistical Inference. The very paper that derives the Likelihood Principle from the cumulated Conditional and Sufficiency principles and that had been discussed [maybe ad nauseam] on this ‘Og!!! Alas, thrice alas!, I was still stuck in the plane flying back from Atlanta as she was presenting her understanding of the paper, as the flight had been delayed four hours thanks to (or rather woe to!) the weather conditions in Paris the day before (chain reaction…):

I am sorry I could not attend this lecture and this for many reasons: first and  foremost, I wanted to attend every talk from my students both out of respect for them and to draw a comparison between their performances. My PhD student Sofia ran the seminar that day in my stead, for which I am quite grateful, but I do do wish I had been there… Second, this a.s. has been the most philosophical paper in the series.and I would have appreciated giving the proper light on the reasons for and the consequences of this paper as Li Chenlu stuck very much on the paper itself. (She provided additional references in the conclusion but they did not seem to impact the slides.)  Discussing for instance Berger’s and Wolpert’s (1988) new lights on the topic, as well as Deborah Mayo‘s (2010) attacks, and even Chang‘s (2012) misunderstandings, would have clearly helped the students.