Reporting Bayesian Results

Because of the different philosophy of Bayesian statistics, where parameters are random variables and data are considered fixed, the analysis and presentation of results will differ from that of frequentist statistics. Most importantly, the probabilities that a parameter is in certain regions of the parameter space are crucial quantities in Bayesian statistics that are not calculable (or considered important) in the frequentist approach that is the basis of much of traditional statistics. In this article, I discuss the implications of these differences for presentation of the results of Bayesian analyses. In doing so, I present more detailed guidelines than are usually provided and explain the rationale for my suggestions.