The effect of sample size on the meaning of a statistically significant result
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Abstract
Can a statistically significant test be interpreted regardless of the sample size used in a particular study? In this brief commentary on Benassi et al. (2013), we seek to answer this question using the same case study and method (i.e., False Positive Report Probability) proposed by the authors. We will demonstrate that, differently from Benassi et al., the interpretation of statistical significance is strongly related to sample size. The results are discussed with a special emphasis on their applied relevance.
Keywords
- Null Hypothesis Significance Testing
- p-value
- critical a level
- False Positive Report Probability
- sample size
