St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Register / Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

A more principled use of the p-value? Not so fast : a critique of Colquhoun's argument

Thumbnail
View/Open
Arandjelovic_2019_RSOS_p_value_CC.pdf (317.1Kb)
Date
15/05/2019
Author
Arandelović, Ognjen
Keywords
Statistics
Bayesian
Frequentist
Empirical
Evidence
QA Mathematics
T-NDAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The usefulness of the statistic known as the p-value, as a means of quantifying the strength of evidence for the presence of an effect from empirical data has long been questioned in the statistical community. In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the awareness of both fundamental and practical limitations of the statistic within the target research fields and especially biomedicine. In this article, I analyse the recently published article (Colquhoun 2017 R. Soc. open sci.4, 171085 (doi:10.1098/rsos.171085)) which, in summary, argues that with a better understanding and thus more appropriate use of the statistic, many of the aforementioned limitations can be addressed. In particular, I demonstrate that the (often implicit) premises of this counterargument are questionable, in some cases arguably inconsistent, and that therefore the counterargument provides little if any justification for the continued use of the p-value. Additionally, my analysis should help researchers seeking to interpret their empirical data by illustrating the nuanced nature and the multiplicity of statistical, methodological and epistemological issues which must be considered in this process.
Citation
Arandelović , O 2019 , ' A more principled use of the p -value? Not so fast : a critique of Colquhoun's argument ' , Royal Society Open Science , vol. 6 , no. 5 , 181519 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181519
Publication
Royal Society Open Science
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181519
ISSN
2054-5703
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/17715

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter