Re: p is continuous, not dichotomous

[Paul Brandon]

At 11:45 PM -0500 11/11/02, Karl L. Wuensch wrote:

Last I checked, the significance level, p, was a probability (the
conditional probability of obtaining results as more discrepant with the
null than are those in the current sample), and probabilities vary
CONTINUOUSLY from 0 to 1.  At least that is what Jack Cohen told me.

I suggest that we simply treat p as a measure of how well the data fit with
the null hypothesis.  P = .08 is very poor fit, p = .04 is not much poorer,
and p = .80 tells me that we got just about what we would expect were the
null true.

One could certainly do that, but I believe that you would be changing the mathematical basis underlying inferential statistics: a decision according to a predetermined criterion whether you have two distributions of scores or one.
--
* PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
* http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *

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