57. Neither Fisher nor Bayes: The Limits of Statistical Inference

How do we know that a treatment works or not? Billions of healthcare dollars are at stake in the answer to that question. For decades, that answer has largely hinged on theories from a field of human inquiry that combines the precision of mathematics with the accuracy of astrology. We are talking of course, about statistics and statistical inference.

To help us understand better this mystical science, we have as our guest Dr. Michael Acree who has spent his entire career working for the University of California San Francisco as a data scientist and a teacher of statistical science, helping countless researchers make sense of the data they had obtained. Michael is now retired and is completing a book on the history and philosophy of statistical inference. He joins us to tell us the whole truth about what is sometimes referred to as the science of mendacity!