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Statistics vocabulary · Hypothesis Testing

Statistical significance

Meaning in statistics, with examples

nounCore term

In statistics, statistical significance means: The conclusion that a result is unlikely to be due to chance alone, judged by comparing the p-value with a chosen significance level such as 0.05.

In Turkish: istatistiksel anlamlılık

How it is used

Mostly used in its adjective form: 'a statistically significant difference', 'not statistically significant'. Good reports pair it with an effect size, because in a very large sample even a tiny, unimportant effect can be statistically significant.

Example sentences

  1. The difference in recovery time did not reach statistical significance.

  2. Women scored statistically significantly higher than men, t(198) = 2.45, p = .015.

Common collocations

  • reach statistical significance
  • statistically significant difference
  • level of statistical significance
  • test for statistical significance
  • p-valueThe probability of getting a result at least as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were true; a small value means the data would be surprising under the null.
  • significance levelThe threshold, chosen before a test, below which a p-value is treated as statistically significant; it is also the accepted risk of a Type I error.
  • effect sizeA number that shows how large a difference or relationship is, independently of sample size, such as Cohen's d, a correlation coefficient or an odds ratio.
  • null hypothesisThe default claim in a statistical test that there is no effect, no difference or no relationship; the test checks whether the data give enough evidence against it.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Hypothesis Testing

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