Skip to main content
Book cover

International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science pp 1003–1006Cite as

Null-Hypothesis Significance Testing: Misconceptons

  • 267 Accesses

Null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) has for many years been the mostwidely used statistical tool for evaluating the outcomes of psychologicalexperiments. It is routinely taught to college students in elementary statisticscourses and courses in experimental methodology and design. Despite these facts,there are many misconceptions about null-hypothesis significance testing—aboutwhat conclusions the results of such testing do or do not justify. Hereseveral of these misconceptions are briefly summarized. More substantivetreatments of these and related misconceptions may be found in severalpublications, including Rozeboom (1960), Clark (1963), Bakan (1966),Morrison and Henkel (1970), Carver (1978), Lakatos (1978), Berger and Sellke (1987), Falk and Greenbaum (1995),Gigerenzer (1998), and Wilkinson and APA Task Force on Statistical Inference(1999).

Many criticisms have been directed at the use of NHST. Some of these criticisms challenge the logic on which it is based; some contend...

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_422
  • Chapter length: 4 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   1,100.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-642-04898-2
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Hardcover Book
USD   1,199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

References and Further Reading

  • Abelson RP (1995) Statistics as principled argument. Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakan D (1966) The test of significance in psychological research. Psychol Bull 66:1–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Baril GL, Cannon JT (1995) What is the probability that null hypothesis testing is meaningless? Am Psychol 50:1098–1099

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger JO, Sellke T (1987) Testing a point null hypothesis: The irreconcilability of P} values and evidence. J Am Stat Assoc 82:112–122

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Carver RP (1978) The case against statistical significance testing. Harvard Educ Rev 48:378–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Chow SL (1996) Statistical significance: rationale, validity, and utility. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark CA (1963) Hypothesis testing in relation to statistical methodology. Rev Educ Res 33:455–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortina JM, Dunlap WP (1997) On the logic and purpose of significance testing. Psychol Meth 2:161–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon P (1998) Why scientists value p values. Psychon Bull Rev 5:390–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Falk R, Greenbaum CW (1995) Significance tests die hard: The amazing persistence of a probabilistic misconception. Theory Psychol 5:75–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Frick RW (1996) The appropriate use of null hypothesis testing. Psychol Meth 1:379–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer G (1998) Surrogates for theories. Theory Psychol 8:195–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris RJ (1997) Significance tests have their place. Psychol Sci 8:8–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos I (1978) Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes. In: Worral J, Currie G (eds) The methodology of scientific research programs: Imre Lakatos’ philosophical papers, vol 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison DE, Henkel RE (eds) (1970) The significance test controversy: A reader. Aldine, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulaik SA, Raju NS, Harshman RA (1997) There is a time and place for significance testing. In: Harlow LL, Mulaik SA, Steiger JH (eds) What if there were no significance tests? Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp 65–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson RS (2000) Null hypothesis statistical testing: A review of an old and continuing controversy. Psychol Meth 5:241–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozeboom WW (1960) The fallacy of the null hypothesis significance test. Psychol Bull 57:416–428

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson L, APA Task Force on Statistical Inference (1999) Statistical methods in psychology journals: Guidelines and explanations. Am Psychol 54:594–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson W, Miller HL, Lower JS (1967) Much ado about the null hypothesis. Psychol Bull 68:188–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Winch RF, Campbell DT (1969) Proof? No. Evidence? Yes. The significance of tests of significance. Am Sociol 4:140–143

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Professor, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Raymond S. Nickerson

Authors
  1. Raymond S. Nickerson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, City of Kragujevac, Serbia

    Miodrag Lovric

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Nickerson, R.S. (2011). Null-Hypothesis Significance Testing: Misconceptons. In: Lovric, M. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_422

Download citation