On the Reform of Statistical Inference in Psychology

Abstract

Since the middle of XXth century the scientific psychology is associated with empirical studies and statistical analysis of data. The criticism of testing the statistical significance (i. e. p-value calculation and its interpretation) began simultaneously with popularization of this procedure in psychology. Reduction of scientific inference to interpretation of p-value which is often incorrect is one of the serious obstacles to the development of psychology. The article discusses some wrong beliefs of researchers with respect to testing of statistical significance and mentions some alternatives discussed in the literature.