statistic prior probability SEVCO This term is core to Bayesian statistics, where the focus is on estimation of the parameter of interest (unlike frequentist statistics, where the focus is on the likelihood of producing an estimate given a specific value of the parameter). The prior probability may be constructed in several ways: from prior research, from raw data in a database, from expert opinion, or specified as "non-informative" (meaning pure ignorance). The likelihood of the parameter is usually represented as a distribution over all possible values of the parameter. A statistic that represents the likelihood of a parameter of interest, before accounting for the observed data from the study. Harold Lehmann, Brian S. Alper, Joanne Dehnbostel, Muhammad Afzal Philippe Rocca-Serra ready for release