The Detection of Nonnegligible Directional Effects With Associated Measures of Statistical Significance

Melinda H. McCann and Joshua D. Habiger

The American Statistician, 2020, vol. 74, issue 3, 213-217

Abstract: When comparing two treatment groups, the objectives are often to (1) determine if the difference between groups (the effect) is of scientific interest, or nonnegligible, and (2) determine if the effect is positive or negative. In practice, a p-value corresponding to the null hypothesis that no effect exists is used to accomplish the first objective and a point estimate for the effect is used to accomplish the second objective. This article demonstrates that this approach is fundamentally flawed and proposes a new approach. The proposed method allows for claims regarding the size of an effect (nonnegligible vs. negligible) and its nature (positive vs. negative) to be made, and provides measures of statistical significance associated with each claim.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/00031305.2018.1497538

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