The philosophy of Bayes factors and the quantification of statistical evidence

AbstractA core aspect of science is using data to assess the degree to which data provide evidence for competing claims, hypotheses, or theories. Evidence is by definition something that should change the credibility of a claim in a reasonable person’s mind. However, common statistics, such as significance testing and confidence intervals have no interface with concepts of belief, and thus it is unclear how they relate to statistical evidence. We explore the concept of statistical evidence, and how it can be quantified using the Bayes factor. We also discuss the philosophical issues inherent in the use of the Bayes factor