Magnitude‐based Inference is not Bayesian and is not a valid method of inference

Abstract

Recently, Diong2 wrote a commentary for the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports critiquing a study by Pamboris and colleagues3 for not correctly interpreting confidence intervals that contained zero. Pamboris and colleagues4 wrote a response letter in return, seeking to rebut Diong s critique and arguing that they were appropriately implementing Magnitude-Based Inference (MBI), which they argue is based on Bayesian inference and [the] conclusions are robust. 4 They neglect, however, that multiple statisticians5-7 including Bayesian statisticians8,9 have strongly critiqued and even called for rejection of MBI as a method of inference. In this commentary, we hope to resolve some of that ambiguity and concisely explain why MBI is not a robust method of statistical inference. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.