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The current way many researchers apply p-values to draw conclusions on statistical significance is incorrect and unhelpful, three scientists argue in a Nature commentary published yesterday (March 20). The authors urge the research community to drop the concept of statistical significance altogether, and more than 800 statisticians and scientists have signed on to the idea.
Scientists have often misused p-values to make claims about what hypotheses their statistically significant or insignificant results “prove,” leading to hyped claims or artificial conflict between studies, the authors say. Because of the bias in journals towards publishing findings with p-values below 0.05, scientists may ignore interesting results that don’t meet the bar and may pick data or methods to try to surpass the threshold.
The authors say they are not trying to ban p-values. Rather, “we are calling for a stop to the use of P values in the conventional, dichotomous ...
