Statistical considerations and techniques for understanding physiological data, modeling, and treatments

Comparing models with data always forces us to deal with uncertainty. This uncertainty may take many different forms and involve multiple scales of resolution in the model and in the experiment. In this paper, we discuss issues surrounding the development of deterministic dynamic models of mean behavior and the associated statistical models of the difference between model and experiment. We touch on a variety of topics, including basic exploratory data analysis, confidence bounds and model reduction hypothesis tests. Tools ranging from nonlinear regression to time series to Bayesian decision theory are presented.