Frekventististen

Frekventististen is a Finnish term used to refer to adherents of frequentist statistics, a school of statistical inference that defines probability as the long-run relative frequency of events in repeatable experiments. Frekventististen typically treat model parameters as fixed but unknown and evaluate evidence about them through procedures whose operating characteristics are characterized by long-run error rates.

Historically, frequentist statistics developed in the early 20th century through the work of Ronald Fisher, Jerzy Neyman, and Egon Pearson. The framework emphasizes procedures such as hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, designed to control error probabilities across hypothetical repetitions of a study. In many scientific fields, frekventististen methodologies have been the dominant paradigm.

Core methods associated with frekventististen include null-hypothesis significance testing, p-values, and confidence intervals, as well as estimation via maximum likelihood and hypothesis testing using likelihood-ratio tests. The approach relies on sampling distributions and the law of large numbers to justify probabilistic statements about data from repeated experiments.

Frequentist inference contrasts with Bayesian approaches, which treat parameters as random variables with prior distributions. Critics argue that p-values can be misinterpreted and that NHST may lead to misleading conclusions in small samples. In practice, some analysts use hybrid or alternative paradigms, blending frequentist continuities with Bayesian ideas or adopting resampling-based methods.

In Finnish language usage, frekventististen serves as the genitive plural form of frekventistinen and appears in phrases describing frequentist perspectives, methods, or findings.