Prior Sensitivity Analysis without Model Re-fit

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Sugasawa, Shonosuke
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Sugasawa, Shonosuke
author_facet Sugasawa, Shonosuke
contents Prior sensitivity analysis is a fundamental method to check the effects of prior distributions on the posterior distribution in Bayesian inference. Exploring the posteriors under several alternative priors can be computationally intensive, particularly for complex latent variable models. To address this issue, we propose a novel method for quantifying the prior sensitivity that does not require model re-fit. Specifically, we present a method to compute the Hellinger and Kullback-Leibler distances between two posterior distributions with base and alternative priors, using Monte Carlo integration based only on the base posterior distribution, through novel integral expressions of the two distances. We also extend the above approach for assessing the influence of hyperpriors in general latent variable models. We demonstrate the proposed method through examples of a simple normal distribution model, hierarchical binomial-beta model, and Gaussian process regression model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_19729
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prior Sensitivity Analysis without Model Re-fit
Sugasawa, Shonosuke
Methodology
Computation
Prior sensitivity analysis is a fundamental method to check the effects of prior distributions on the posterior distribution in Bayesian inference. Exploring the posteriors under several alternative priors can be computationally intensive, particularly for complex latent variable models. To address this issue, we propose a novel method for quantifying the prior sensitivity that does not require model re-fit. Specifically, we present a method to compute the Hellinger and Kullback-Leibler distances between two posterior distributions with base and alternative priors, using Monte Carlo integration based only on the base posterior distribution, through novel integral expressions of the two distances. We also extend the above approach for assessing the influence of hyperpriors in general latent variable models. We demonstrate the proposed method through examples of a simple normal distribution model, hierarchical binomial-beta model, and Gaussian process regression model.
title Prior Sensitivity Analysis without Model Re-fit
topic Methodology
Computation
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.19729