NUR 80A/B Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Type I And Type Ii Errors, Null Hypothesis, Test Statistic
20 Mar 2016
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The term significant in statistics means study findings are likely due to some systematic influence i. e. treatment or intervention and not due to chance alone. Because we are basing our decision on probabilities, we can never be 100% certain that we are making the correct decision regarding the null hypothesis. Error is always possible and a researcher needs to decide the amount of chance or risk they are willing to take that an error will be made. This type i error, or level of significance, has certain values associated with it that define the risk you are willing to take in any test of the null hypothesis. The conventional levels set are between . 01 and . 05. What statistical significance means: that the research was a technical success and the null hypothesis is not a reasonable explanation for what was observed.
