Inappropriate fiddling with statistical analyses to obtain a desirable p-value: tests to detect its presence in published literature.
other · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23056287.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0046363 and PMC identifier PMC4692473.
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Abstract
Much has been written regarding p-values below certain thresholds (most notably 0.05) denoting statistical significance and the tendency of such p-values to be more readily publishable in peer-reviewed journals. Intuition suggests that there may be a tendency to manipulate statistical analyses to push a "near significant p-value" to a level that is considered significant. This article presents a method for detecting the presence of such manipulation (herein called "fiddling") in a distribution of p-values from independent studies. Simulations are used to illustrate the properties of the method. The results suggest that the method has low type I error and that power approaches acceptable levels as the number of p-values being studied approaches 1000.