elicito: A Python Package for Expert Prior Elicitation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bockting, Florence, Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bockting, Florence
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
author_facet Bockting, Florence
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
contents Expert prior elicitation plays a critical role in Bayesian analysis by enabling the specification of prior distributions that reflect domain knowledge. However, expert knowledge often refers to observable quantities rather than directly to model parameters, posing a challenge for translating this information into usable priors. We present elicito, a Python package that implements a modular, simulation-based framework for expert prior elicitation. The framework supports both structural and predictive elicitation methods and allows for flexible customization of key components, including the generative model, the form of expert input, prior assumptions (parametric or nonparametric), and loss functions. By structuring the elicitation process into configurable modules, elicito offers transparency, reproducibility, and comparability across elicitation methods. We describe the methodological foundations of the package, its software architecture, and demonstrate its functionality through a case study.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_16830
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle elicito: A Python Package for Expert Prior Elicitation
Bockting, Florence
Bürkner, Paul-Christian
Methodology
Computation
62-04, 62-08
Expert prior elicitation plays a critical role in Bayesian analysis by enabling the specification of prior distributions that reflect domain knowledge. However, expert knowledge often refers to observable quantities rather than directly to model parameters, posing a challenge for translating this information into usable priors. We present elicito, a Python package that implements a modular, simulation-based framework for expert prior elicitation. The framework supports both structural and predictive elicitation methods and allows for flexible customization of key components, including the generative model, the form of expert input, prior assumptions (parametric or nonparametric), and loss functions. By structuring the elicitation process into configurable modules, elicito offers transparency, reproducibility, and comparability across elicitation methods. We describe the methodological foundations of the package, its software architecture, and demonstrate its functionality through a case study.
title elicito: A Python Package for Expert Prior Elicitation
topic Methodology
Computation
62-04, 62-08
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16830