multiplicity

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Philip B. Stark
Professor
Department of Statistics
University of California, Berkeley

I enjoyed Prof. Mayo’s comment in Conservation Biology Mayo, 2021 very much, and agree enthusiastically with most of it. Here are my key takeaways and reflections.

Error probabilities (or error rates) are essential to consider. If you don’t give thought to what the data would be like if your theory is false, you are not doing science. Some applications really require a decision to be made. Does the drug go to market or not? Are the girders for the bridge strong enough, or not? Hence, banning “bright lines” is silly. Conversely, no threshold for significance, no matter how small, suffices to prove an empirical claim. In replication lies truth. Abandoning P-values exacerbates moral hazard for journal editors, although there has always been moral hazard in the gatekeeping function. Absent any objective assessment of evidence, publication decisions are even more subject to cronyism, “taste”, confirmation bias, etc. Throwing away P-values because many practitioners don’t know how to use them is perverse. It’s like banning scalpels because most people don’t know how to perform surgery. People who wish to perform surgery should be trained in the proper use of scalpels, and those who wish to use statistics should be trained in the proper use of P-values. Throwing out P-values is self-serving to statistical instruction, too: we’re making our lives easier by teaching less instead of teaching better. Continue reading →