I like Bob Abelson's advice about this: report the alpha level (e..g, .05) along with the observed p value (.056) and the effect size, and let the journal editor and reader decide what to make of it. Abelson has a great explanation of the topic in Chapter 4 of his great book, Statistics As Principled Argument. He also discusses John Tukey's suggestion that we call results between p=.05 and p=.15 as leaning toward significance, and results from p=.15 to p=.25 as hinting toward significance. Thinking in this way avoids what Abelson calls categoritis regarding statistical tests and gets students to think about what statistics do.
Marty Bourgeois University of Wyoming -----Original Message----- From: Rob Flint [mailto:flintr@;mail.strose.edu] Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 5:40 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Marginally Significant? One of my students doing her senior thesis ran her stats and got results of .056 and .08 for two different ANOVAs. In the past I have seen published studies indicating that these are "marginally significant." How do you deal with results of this nature? More importantly, do you have any citations (journals or books) that discuss the value of including/discussing results that seem to "approach significance"? Thanks, Rob Flint ------------------------------------------------------------- Robert W. Flint, Jr., Ph.D. The College of Saint Rose Department of Psychology 432 Western Avenue Albany, NY 12203-1490 Office: 518-458-5379 Lab: 518-454-2102 Fax: 518-458-5446 Behavioral Neuroscience Homepage: http://academic.strose.edu/academic/flintr/ Department of Psychology Homepage: http://academic.strose.edu/academic/psychology/index.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
