Author Description

This volume contains the majority of the papers presented at the 5th Inter national Workshop on Model-Oriented Data Analysis held in June 1998. This series started in March 1987 with a meeting on the Wartburg, Eisenach (Germany). The next three meetings were in 1990 (St Kyrik monastery, Bulgaria), 1992 (Petrodvorets, StPetersburg, Russia) and 1995 (Spetses, Greece). The main purpose of these workshops was to bring together lead ing scientists from 'Eastern' and 'Western' Europe for the exchange of ideas in theoretical and applied statistics, with special emphasis on experimen tal design. Now that the separation between East and West has become less rigid, this dialogue has, in principle, become much easier. However, providing opportunities for this dialogue is as vital as ever. MODA meetings are known for their friendly atmosphere, leading to fruitful discussions and collaboration, especially between young and senior scien tists. Indeed, many long term collaborations were initiated during these events. This intellectually stimulating atmosphere is achieved by limiting the number of participants to around eighty, by the choice of location so that participants can live as a community, and, of course, through the care ful selection of scientific direction made by the Programme Committee.