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Effect sizes and what to make of them

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We all care about effect sizes. Yet, traditional ways of evaluating them (P < 0.05 and generic benchmarks) are failing us. We propose two paths forward: setting better, contextualized benchmarks or — more radically — letting go of benchmarks altogether. Both paths point to adjusted expectations, more detailed reporting and slow science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Friedrich M. Götz

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Samuel D. Gosling

  3. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Samuel D. Gosling

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Peter J. Rentfrow

Authors
  1. Friedrich M. Götz
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  2. Samuel D. Gosling
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  3. Peter J. Rentfrow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Friedrich M. Götz.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks David Funder and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Götz, F.M., Gosling, S.D. & Rentfrow, P.J. Effect sizes and what to make of them. Nat Hum Behav 8, 798–800 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01858-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01858-z

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