Operational parameters in Bayesian models

摘要

Operational parameters are parameters that are defined in terms of the data that are being modelled. This paper shows under what conditions they can be used in place of the usual formal parameters and discusses the advantages of doing this. Example applications include the normal, exponential and uniform model, the multivariate-normal and other multivariate models, finitepopulation versions, and also several new models. Also presented is their relationship to de Finetti’s work on exchangeability and other symmetrybased approache