 What would judgment and decision making research be like if we took a Bayesian approach to hypothesis testing?William J. Matthews Judgment and Decision Making, 2011, vol. 6, issue 8, pages 843-856 Abstract: Judgment and decision making research overwhelmingly uses null hypothesis significance testing as the basis for statistical inference. This article examines an alternative, Bayesian approach which emphasizes the choice between two competing hypotheses and quantifies the balance of evidence provided by the data---one consequence of which is that experimental results may be taken to strongly favour the null hypothesis. We apply a recently-developed ``Bayesian $t$-test'' to existing studies of the anchoring effect in judgment, and examine how the change in approach affects both the tone of hypothesis testing and the substantive conclusions that one draws. We compare the Bayesian approach with Fisherian and Neyman-Pearson testing, examining its relationship to conventional $p$-values, the influence of effect size, and the importance of prior beliefs about the likely state of nature. The results give a sense of how Bayesian hypothesis testing might be applied to judgment and decision making research, and of both the advantages and challenges that a shift to this approach would entail. Keywords: Null hypothesis significance testing; Bayesian inference; Bayes factor; Anchoring (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jdm:journl:v:6:y:2011:i:8:p:843-856 Access Statistics for this article Judgment and Decision Making is edited by Jonathan Baron More articles in Judgment and Decision Making from Society for Judgment and Decision Making |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
Swedish Business School at Örebro University.