A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests

Thomas Mayer

No 549, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

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 misinterpretation 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)
Date: 2001
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Related works:
Working Paper: A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests (2003)
Working Paper: A Frequent Misuse of Significance Tests
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_549

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