Not Related! A Big-Braned Podcast The Flaws of Academic Statistics: the Null Ritual
Mar 13, 2019
Delve into the world of faulty academic statistics and discover the 'Null Ritual,' a problematic practice plaguing research. The hosts dissect the significance of p-values and their mishandling, revealing how this binary approach has transformed into a cult-like reverence. You'll learn about the conflicting views of statisticians like Fisher and Neyman, and how their ideas morphed into a confusing ritual that promotes misleading results. Uncover the consequences of p-hacking and the alarming trend of false findings in published research.
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What The Null Ritual Is
- The "null ritual" is a three-step, widespread convention for hypothesis testing that often replaces careful reasoning.
- It usually sets a null of no effect, uses p<0.05 as a cutoff, and treats significance as binary.
What A P-Value Actually Means
- A p-value measures the probability of obtaining data at least as extreme as observed assuming the null is true.
- It does not give the probability that the null hypothesis itself is true.
The Binary Trap Of Significance
- "Statistical significance" in practice became a near-religious binary label around arbitrary cutoffs like 0.05.
- Small differences around the cutoff (e.g., .049 vs .051) are treated as qualitatively different despite being essentially continuous.
