Discussion questions#

  1. The breast cancer screening example at the reading and lecture shows how evidentiary and existential methods can arrive at similar conclusions. Mayo makes the case that the existential, error statistics approach provides a better window towards understanding errors. What does the error statistical approach give you that the Bayesian does not? What does the Bayesian approach provide that the error statistical approach does not? Use the breast cancer study as a guide to answering this question.

  2. How does Mayo’s concept of severe hypothesis tests relate to Popper’s idea of falsifiabilty? In what ways do they differ?