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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Data and Analysis

P-value

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

nounCommon term

In academic english & research, p-value means: A probability showing how likely results at least as extreme as yours would be if there were really no effect, that is, if the null hypothesis were true.

In Turkish: p değeri, anlamlılık değeri

How it is used

A result is usually called statistically significant when p < .05. APA style reports exact values in italics without a leading zero (p = .032) and uses p < .001 for very small values. A p-value does not show how large or important an effect is, so effect sizes are reported too.

Example sentences

  1. The p-value for the interaction term was .004, well below the .05 threshold.

  2. A small p-value alone does not tell you whether the effect matters in practice.

Common collocations

  • report exact p-values
  • p < .05
  • p-value threshold
  • adjusted p-value
  • significantIn statistics, describing a result unlikely to be due to chance alone at a chosen level such as p < .05; in general use, large or important enough to matter.
  • hypothesisA testable statement that predicts a relationship or outcome, which a study then supports or fails to support with evidence.
  • quantitativeDescribing research that collects numerical data and uses statistics to measure, compare or test relationships, often with larger samples.
  • meanThe average value of a set of numbers, found by adding them together and dividing the total by how many numbers there are.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Data and Analysis

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