A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests

Thomas Mayer

No 288, Working Papers from University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Abstract: Economists sometimes interpret the failure of a significance test to disconfirm a hypothesis as evidence that this hypothesis is valid. Six examples of this are cited from recent journals. But this is a as interpretation of what significance tests show. While in general it is correct that every failure to disconfirm a hypothesis adds to its credibility, the term ""disconfirm"" is defined differently for this purpose than it is in the context of significance tests.

Keywords: significance tests; t values; t coefficients; confirmation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B4 C1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14
Date: 2003-01-15
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https://repec.dss.ucdavis.edu/files/dXFUPpcF9vgLNKg3q3KiU6JS/01-5.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests (2001)
Working Paper: A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests
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