Running header: STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND MEANINGFULNESS 1

Statisticians and researchers make use of statistical significance while making their

analysis; this is because events cannot be assumed to be 100% sure. The precision level of the

obtained results is mostly reduced due to a margin of a mild error. In most cases, the error

margin cannot be controlled and thus the significance of the result is determined using the

formulated hypothesis test (American Statistical Association, 2016). This, therefore, implies that

there is always a particular risk level which a researcher opts to take; this risk is referred to as the

level of significance level. Since there is a close relationship between critical value and level of

significance, in understating levels of significance, the critical value is used. This is because we

determine if a value is significant basing on where the values lie. Since the probability of a value

that is significant is less than 0.05, a value that is significant will lie above the critical values.

Mostly, when testing hypothesis, the level of significance level is used.

The level of significance (α) is interpreted as the likelihood that the null hypothesis will

be rejected when it is actually true. For instance, if the level of significance is set at 0.05, this

shows that there is a 5% risk of making a conclusion that a difference exists when there is no

actual difference (Frankfort & Leon, 2018). In statistical hypothesis testing, the p-value of 0.05

is used to determine whether the null hypothesis should be rejected, in some cases, P-values of

.01 and .001 are also used. Therefore, the statement in the footnote means that if the null

hypothesis is rejected, there is a 10% probability that in reality it is true and we have committed

Type 1 error (Magnusson, n.d.).

A researcher uses hypothesis testing to find out if there is a relation that occurs in the data

tested. Hypothesis testing entails using critical and the P-values. Depending on the choice of the

analysis, a decision is made using the null and alternative hypothesis formulated(American
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Statistical Association, 2016). After necessary calculations have been done to investigate

whether there is a statistical difference or significance of the outcomes, the P-value is then used

by the statistician to rule out a decision. However, due to the existing misconceptions about the

P-value, keen observations should be done to avoid its misuse. Some statistical results are as a

result of chance, interpretation of such results can in one way or the other lead to the misuse of

the P-value. When the P-value is used, the probabilities of the results obtained are only under a

particular hypothetical explanation. Furthermore, the majority of the non-statistician misuse the

P-value when they use it in the estimation of the effect of size and the significance of the

outcomes obtained from the analysis (Laureate Education, 2016). The P-value always gives the

statistical significance of obtained results and it defends the spurious finding. In the

interpretation of the P-value, mostly, we base our reasoning that the obtained difference from the

results is, as a result, of other factors but not the explained reasons.

References

American Statistical Association (2016). American Statistical Association Releases Statement on

Statistical Significance and P-Values. Retrieved from

http://www.amstat.org/newsroom/pressreleases/P-ValueStatement.pdf

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2018). Social statistics for a diverse society (8th

ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016f). Meaningfulness vs. statistical significance [Video file].

Baltimore, MD: Author.

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Magnusson, K. (n.d.). Welcome to Kristoffer Magnusson’s blog about R, Statistics, Psychology,

Open Science, Data Visualization [blog]. Retrieved from

http://rpsychologist.com/index.html