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gwern comments on Against NHST - Less Wrong Discussion

57 Post author: gwern 21 December 2012 04:45AM

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Comment author: gwern 25 March 2013 10:41:35PM *  1 point [-]

"Reflections on methods of statistical inference in research on the effect of safety countermeasures", Hauer 1983; and "The harm done by tests of significance", Hauer 2004 (excerpts):

Three historical episodes in which the application of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) led to the mis-interpretation of data are described. It is argued that the pervasive use of this statistical ritual impedes the accumulation of knowledge and is unfit for use.

(These deadly examples obviously lend themselves to Bayesian critique, but could just as well be classified by a frequentist under several of the rubrics in OP: under failures to adjust thresholds based on decision theory, and failure to use meta-analysis or other techniques to pool data and turn a collection of non-significant results into a significant result.)