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Statistical significance is not a bright-line test. The p value reported is the probability that the observed effects occur if there are actually no effects. No
by scythe 7y ago
Statistical significance is not a bright-line test. The p value reported is the probability that the observed effects occur if there are actually no effects. Notably, p is always greater than zero.
In general, when less data is available, larger p values are considered more interesting, while when more data is available, p must be smaller to be interesting. In particle physics, p < 0.001 means almost nothing. In the particular quoted line, p = 0.07ish which is above the human-defined, conventional threshold of 0.05 but in this case there are almost no other useful data and so the phenomenon is interesting.