Feb 28, 2003 08:08
21 yrs ago
English term

p

English Medical Phamaceutical Experiment
The following expression appears frequently in a detailed description of a pharmaceutical experiment involving a comparison of the performance of various drugs and placebos:

"The difference was found to be very significant (p

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Feb 28, 2003:
But . . . If "the difference was found to be very significant," as this research paper says, then why is the "level of significance" so tiny (<0.01)?
Non-ProZ.com Feb 28, 2003:
Follow-up Question Thank you, Eva. Do you happen to know why it is called "p"? I am just curious.

Responses

+4
5 mins
Selected

level of significance

see link for detailed explanation

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Note added at 2003-02-28 08:14:29 (GMT)
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\"p\" is an international abbreviation, it is used in all languages I speak, so you might leave it as it is

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Note added at 2003-02-28 08:21:10 (GMT)
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I think it comes from \"probability\": the probability that in spite of the proven results, the truth is something else. Therefore, it is usual to indicate the level of significance together with the results: to show the reliability.

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Note added at 2003-02-28 08:24:16 (GMT)
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the standard levels of significance are 0.01 and 0.05, these levels only mean that there is a 1% chance that my conclusion is still a mistake or a 5% chance, respectively.

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Note added at 2003-02-28 08:33:09 (GMT)
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Just to be on the safe side: the \"significant\" difference in terms of wording happens to coincide with the denomination of the methodology. The level of significance refers to the verification method, to check the probability if the answer is correct or false. Sometimes research report explain this in full (such as ...a significant difference at the level of significance of p<0,01..) - and, in this case, probably \"important\" or \"substantial\" etc. would be used in the sentence - or they simply add, as a background information the \"p< 0.01\", as it happened here. The same is true for cases when the relation of the variables was found \"insignificant\"!

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Note added at 2003-02-28 08:37:00 (GMT)
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I\'ve found something for you: http://www.acponline.org/journals/ecp/julaug01/primer.htm

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Note added at 2003-02-28 09:42:31 (GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks for the nice words, but remember what Albert Einstein said: you don\'t need to know everything, you just need to know where to look things up!
Peer comment(s):

agree Sarah Ponting
0 min
agree Daniela Falessi
1 min
agree Gordana Podvezanec
15 mins
agree Roddy Stegemann : Leave it as it is. It is a common statistical term called the p-value. It is the probability of being wrong about an estimated value.
2 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "God bless you, Eva. This is tremendous. As you can imagine, it will take me a while to digest all of this, but you certainly have put me on the right track. Now I know what I will study in my next life."
10 mins

probability

Statistic term
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