ABSTRACT
ThisbookintroducestheBayesianapproachtohealth-relatedresearch. ThefirstchapterprovidesanoverviewofBayesianmethods,presenting keydefinitionsandthebasicframeworkthatwillbeneededtounderstand remainingchapters.KeycomponentsofaBayesiananalysisincludeprior, posterior,andpredictivedistributions,likelihoodfunctions,andutility functions.Eachofthesecomponentsisdefinedanddiscussedinthischapter.Becausetheoverridinggoalofallhealthresearchistoguidedecision making,mostdiscussionisembeddedinadecisiontheoreticcontext.DifferencesbetweenBayesianandfrequentistparadigmsarehighlighted, withspecialattentiongiventothedifferenceintheirapproachtoscientific reasoninganddecisionmaking.
