An Introduction to Bayesian Analysis Theory and Methods

Though there are many recent additions to graduate-level introductory books on Bayesian analysis, none has quite our blend of theory, methods, and ap plications. We believe a beginning graduate student taking a Bayesian course or just trying to find out what it means to be a Bayesian ought to have some familiarity with all three aspects. More specialization can come later. Each of us has taught a course like this at Indian Statistical Institute or Purdue. In fact, at least partly, the book grew out of those courses. We would also like to refer to the review (Ghosh and Samanta (2002b)) that first made us think of writing a book. The book contains somewhat more material than can be covered in a single semester. We have done this intentionally, so that an instructor has some choice as to what to cover as well as which of the three aspects to emphasize. Such a choice is essential for the instructor. The topics include several results or methods that have not appeared in a graduate text before. In fact, the book can be used also as a second course in Bayesian analysis if the instructor supplies more details. Chapter 1 provides a quick review of classical statistical inference. Some knowledge of this is assumed when we compare different paradigms. Following this, an introduction to Bayesian inference is given in Chapter 2 emphasizing the need for the Bayesian approach to statistics.