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The critics rebutted: A Pyrrhic victory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1998

Stephan Lewandowsky
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A. 6907, [email protected] www.psy.uwa.edu.au/user/lewan/
Murray Maybery
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A. 6907, [email protected] www.psy.uwa.edu.au/user/lewan/

Abstract

We take up two issues discussed by Chow: the claim by critics of hypothesis testing that the null hypothesis (H0) is always false, and the claim that reporting effect sizes is more appropriate than relying on statistical significance. Concerning the former, we agree with Chow's sentiment despite noting serious shortcomings in his discussion. Concerning the latter, we agree with Chow that effect size need not translate into scientific relevance, and furthermore reiterate that with small samples effect size measures cannot substitute for significance.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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