Revisiting the Lost Submarine Problem: A Decision Theoretic Approach

Abstract

This article includes a discussion of the ``lost submarine problem", following Morey \emph{et al} (2016). As the title of that paper suggests (\emph{The fallacy of placing confidence in confidence intervals}), the example is intended to illustrate the futility of relying on the confidence interval as a formal inference statement. In the view of this author, the misgivings expressed in Morey \emph{et al} (2016) can be resolved using a decision theoretic approach. While it is true that a variety of statistical methods lead to a variety of confidence intervals, once we precisely define their purpose, a single optimal choice emerges. Furthermore, distinct purposes lead to distinct optimal choices. Therefore, that a variety of procedures exist is an advantage rather than a liability.