10.4225/03/59389b816e10c
McLean, Alan
Alan
McLean
On the Nature and Role of Hypothesis Tests
Monash University
2017
1959.1/2300
prediction
statistical model
2001
significance
p value
hypothesis test
monash:2300
probability model
2017-06-08 00:34:08
Journal contribution
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/journal_contribution/On_the_Nature_and_Role_of_Hypothesis_Tests/5090020
Hypothesis testing is widely regarded as an essential part of statistics, but its use in research has led to considerable controversy in a number of disciplines, especially psychology, with a number of commentators suggesting it should not be used at all. A root cause of this controversy was the overenthusiastic adoption of hypothesis testing, based on a greatly exaggerated view of its role in research. A second cause was confusion between the two forms of hypothesis testing developed by Fisher on the one hand and Neyman and Pearson on the other. This paper discusses these two causes, and also proposes that there is a more general misunderstanding of the role of hypothesis testing. This misunderstanding is reflected in vocabulary such as 'the true value of the parameter'.