Abstract
Many medical researchers believe that it would be fruitless to submit for publication any paper that lacks statistical tests of significance. Their belief is not ill founded: editors and referees commonly rely on tests of significance as indicators of a sophisticated and meaningful statistical analysis, as well as the primary means to assess sampling variability in a study. The preoccupation with significance tests is embodied in the focus on whether the P value is less than 0.05; results are considered "significant" or "not significant" according to whether or not the P value is less than or greater than 0.05. Dr. . . .
Keywords
MedicineStatistical significanceValue (mathematics)Significance testingStatistical hypothesis testingp-valueClinical significanceConfidence intervalStatisticsPathologyInternal medicineMathematics
MeSH Terms
Clinical Trials as TopicDrug EvaluationHumansResearchStatistics as Topic
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1978
- Type
- editorial
- Volume
- 299
- Issue
- 24
- Pages
- 1362-1363
- Citations
- 296
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Kenneth J. Rothman
(1978).
A Show of Confidence.
New England Journal of Medicine
, 299
(24)
, 1362-1363.
https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm197812142992410
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1056/nejm197812142992410
- PMID
- 362205