Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The essential elements in any application of statistical theory are
(1) the set of hypothetical physical states θ which may give rise to the observed phenomena,
(2) the set of all possible observations or samples x,
(3) the set of actions α which may be taken when x is known.
The whole procedure in the common applications can be divided into two parts:
(A) the estimation of θ from the known observation x,
(B) action on the basis of this estimation.
* Wald, A., ‘Contributions to the theory of statistical estimation and testing hypotheses’, Ann. Math. Statist. 10 (1939), 299–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
* Statistical Research Memoirs, University College, London, 1930 and 1938.Google Scholar