
Chapter 3
Two Fundamental Principles
3.1 Introduction
Statistical inference is the process of converting experience, in the form of observed
data, to knowledge about the underlying population in question, and is an essen-
tial part of the scientific method and of human discovery. The conclusion of Chap-
ter 2 is that existing approaches provide only approximations to the “best possi-
ble inference.” The goal of this chapter, and of the book more generally, is to de-
scribe our view of this elusive target. In particular, we provide two vague but hardly-
disagreeable principles which we believe describe what this “best possible inference”
should satisfy ...