- Medical and health journals have a bias towards publishing findings which are statistically significant, even when they may not also be clinically relevant. This results in authors describing their non significant findings with creative language, to try and make them seem more interesting. Matthew Hankins (@mc_hankins) has Tweeted many, many examples of these verbal contortions, with his own wry comments. Storified by me @AnnieBruton.
No.1 in a series of creative descriptions for non-significance:"slightly failed to reach statistical significance" http://pic.twitter.com/IcVGpiqFyK
No.2 in a series of creative descriptions for non-significance: "better trends of improvement" http://pic.twitter.com/2WRRvCnf8n via @AnnieBruton
No.3 in a series of creative descriptions of non-significance:"a strong trend toward significance (p=0.07)" http://pic.twitter.com/i0Q92Lk39S
The ever-reliable standby "nearly significant" http://pic.twitter.com/uV9OH2b1km via @AnnieBruton #stillnotsignificant
Letting themselves down gently: "not quite significant (p=.11)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/7Zd8vOJUTG- @mc_hankins @AnnieBruton I recently said, 'was outside the conventional significance level'...
A frankly pedestrian "borderline significant (p=0.077)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/nNnXaSMLyO
"near significance (p=0.07)": 'near' as in 'totally not' #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/AqASG0Ay9v
Failed, but only slightly: "slightly failed to reach statistical significance (p=0.061)" http://pic.twitter.com/IcVGpiqFyK #stillnotsignificant
Not just a trend, a *better* trend: "better trends of improvement (p=0.056)" http://pic.twitter.com/2WRRvCnf8n via @AnnieBruton #stillnotsignificant
Glass close to half full: "significant, or close to significant effects (p =0.08, p=0.05)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/gDXUBgHfFE
Trivially so, really: "slight non-significance" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/eGVBIOKXMp- @mc_hankins “Curiously, P values never seem to ‘trend’ away from significance.”) blog.amamanualofstyle.com/2012/06/18/buc…
MT @mngreenall "very close to significant" but significantly, no cigar #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/fY2MLGMqcC
Desperate: "quite close to significance at the 10% level (p=0.104)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/77Cx7sswjR
Admirable in its audacity: "a slight significance (0.05<p<0.1)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/ROLcu08x6A
There's 'nearly' not, and then there's 'very nearly' not: "very nearly significant (P=0.0656)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/bCOhpDvqCx
Honest in a roundabout way: "nearly, but not quite significant (P<0.06)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/OSxB9zgfbV- Interestingly, 'slight non-significance' and 'slight significance' express exactly the same thing, i.e. non-significance #stilnotsignificant
Trending, precisely as much as this hashtag: "trending towards significant (p=0.099)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/eUcwrTNUic
Only three words in the following phrase are misleading:"trending towards significance" (P<0.15) #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/TdvnWmB7fL
Like the Curate's egg, it was significant in places: "partial significance (P<0.09)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/SPzZAfLweX
Taking it to the edge, but not actually beyond it: "at the edge of significance (P=0.055) #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/o7WDRW44Lp
Edginess abounds: "on the edge of significance (P<0.08)" #stillnotsignificant http://pic.twitter.com/2ffqVlW0nG





















