Decision-making with possibilistic inferential models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Martin, Ryan, Prim, Shih-Ni, Williams, Jonathan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Martin, Ryan
Prim, Shih-Ni
Williams, Jonathan
author_facet Martin, Ryan
Prim, Shih-Ni
Williams, Jonathan
contents Inferential models (IMs) are data-dependent, imprecise-probabilistic structures designed to quantify uncertainty about unknowns. As the name suggests, the focus has been on uncertainty quantification for inference and on its reliability properties in that context. Focusing on a likelihood-based possibilistic IM formulation, the present paper develops a corresponding framework for decision making, and investigates the decision-theoretic implications of the IM's reliability guarantees. Here we show that the possibilistic IM's assessment of an action's quality, defined by a simple Choquet integral, tends not be too optimistic compared to that of an oracle. This ensures that the IM tends not to favor actions that the oracle doesn't also favor, hence the IM is also reliable for decision making. We also establish a complementary, large-sample efficiency result that says the IM's reliability isn't achieved by being grossly conservative. In the special case of equivariant statistical models, further connections can be made between the IM's and Bayesian's recommended actions, from which certain optimality conclusions can be drawn.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2112_13247
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Decision-making with possibilistic inferential models
Martin, Ryan
Prim, Shih-Ni
Williams, Jonathan
Statistics Theory
Inferential models (IMs) are data-dependent, imprecise-probabilistic structures designed to quantify uncertainty about unknowns. As the name suggests, the focus has been on uncertainty quantification for inference and on its reliability properties in that context. Focusing on a likelihood-based possibilistic IM formulation, the present paper develops a corresponding framework for decision making, and investigates the decision-theoretic implications of the IM's reliability guarantees. Here we show that the possibilistic IM's assessment of an action's quality, defined by a simple Choquet integral, tends not be too optimistic compared to that of an oracle. This ensures that the IM tends not to favor actions that the oracle doesn't also favor, hence the IM is also reliable for decision making. We also establish a complementary, large-sample efficiency result that says the IM's reliability isn't achieved by being grossly conservative. In the special case of equivariant statistical models, further connections can be made between the IM's and Bayesian's recommended actions, from which certain optimality conclusions can be drawn.
title Decision-making with possibilistic inferential models
topic Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13247