A retrospective assessment of marine ecological research using optimal α
| dc.contributor.advisor | Houlahan, Jeff | |
| dc.contributor.author | Zhao, Chuhan | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-03-02T23:42:51Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-03-02T23:42:51Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is and has been for many decades broadly applied across disciplines, NHST’s shortcomings have been identified and discussed since its introduction. Optimal alpha is a better method for setting statistical thresholds in NHST because it minimizes the overall probability of making errors. However, we don’t know how often using optimal α would result in a different conclusion than NHST. I calculate optimal α for 433 tests from 2009-2018 published marine biology papers and compare conclusions with NHST. I find totally 24 % of conflicting results (small ES: 22 %; medium ES: 22 %; large ES: 29 %). For disagreement, optimal alpha has 97 % significant results at small ES, 54% at medium and 24% at large. Low observed p value tends to have disagreement. These results mean that failing to use optimal alpha may be inflating the probability of making wrong conclusions in marine biology. | |
| dc.description.copyright | This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. | |
| dc.format | text/xml | |
| dc.format.extent | ix, 83 pages | |
| dc.format.medium | electronic | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://unbscholar.lib.unb.ca/handle/1882/22329 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_CA | |
| dc.publisher | University of New Brunswick | |
| dc.rights | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 | |
| dc.subject.discipline | Biology | |
| dc.title | A retrospective assessment of marine ecological research using optimal α | |
| dc.type | bachelor thesis | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Biology | |
| thesis.degree.fullname | Bachelor of Science with Honours in Marine biology | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of New Brunswick | |
| thesis.degree.level | undergraduate | |
| thesis.degree.name | B.Sc. |
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