IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0303262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of redefining statistical significance on P-hacking and false positive rates: An agent-based model

Author

Listed:
  • Ben G Fitzpatrick
  • Dennis M Gorman
  • Caitlin Trombatore

Abstract

In recent years, concern has grown about the inappropriate application and interpretation of P values, especially the use of P

Suggested Citation

  • Ben G Fitzpatrick & Dennis M Gorman & Caitlin Trombatore, 2024. "Impact of redefining statistical significance on P-hacking and false positive rates: An agent-based model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-18, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0303262
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303262
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0303262
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0303262&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0303262?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander J. Stewart & Joshua B. Plotkin, 2021. "The natural selection of good science," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 1510-1518, November.
    2. Daniele Fanelli, 2010. "“Positive” Results Increase Down the Hierarchy of the Sciences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(4), pages 1-10, April.
    3. Christopher D. Chambers & Loukia Tzavella, 2022. "The past, present and future of Registered Reports," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 29-42, January.
    4. Christopher Allen & David M A Mehler, 2019. "Open science challenges, benefits and tips in early career and beyond," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(5), pages 1-14, May.
    5. repec:plo:pbio00:3000587 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Jesper W. Schneider, 2015. "Null hypothesis significance tests. A mix-up of two different theories: the basis for widespread confusion and numerous misinterpretations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 411-432, January.
    7. Robert MacCoun & Saul Perlmutter, 2015. "Blind analysis: Hide results to seek the truth," Nature, Nature, vol. 526(7572), pages 187-189, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thibaut Arpinon & Romain Espinosa, 2023. "A practical guide to Registered Reports for economists," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 9(1), pages 90-122, June.
    2. Thibaut Arpinon & Marianne Lefebvre, 2024. "Registered Reports and Associated Benefits for Agricultural Economics," Post-Print hal-04635986, HAL.
    3. Thibaut Arpinon & Romain Espinosa, 2023. "A Practical Guide to Registered Reports for Economists," Post-Print halshs-03897719, HAL.
    4. Shaw, Steven D. & Nave, Gideon, 2023. "Don't hate the player, hate the game: Realigning incentive structures to promote robust science and better scientific practices in marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    5. Balafoutas, Loukas & Celse, Jeremy & Karakostas, Alexandros & Umashev, Nicholas, 2025. "Incentives and the replication crisis in social sciences: A critical review of open science practices," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    6. Fabo, Brian & Jančoková, Martina & Kempf, Elisabeth & Pástor, Ľuboš, 2024. "Fifty shades of QE: Robust evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    7. H. Latan & C.J. Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & M. Ali, 2023. "Crossing the Red Line? Empirical Evidence and Useful Recommendations on Questionable Research Practices among Business Scholars," Post-Print hal-04276024, HAL.
    8. repec:plo:pbio00:3000763 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Tang, Xuli & Li, Xin & Ding, Ying & Song, Min & Bu, Yi, 2020. "The pace of artificial intelligence innovations: Speed, talent, and trial-and-error," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    10. Avijit Gayen & Somyajit Chakraborty & Saikat Mitra & Angshuman Jana, 2025. "Comeback or dropout: study of discontinued researchers at early career stage," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(2), pages 1201-1236, February.
    11. Zhiqi Wang & Ronald Rousseau, 2021. "COVID-19, the Yule-Simpson paradox and research evaluation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3501-3511, April.
    12. Jinshan Wu, 2018. "Is there an intrinsic logical error in null hypothesis significance tests? Commentary on: “Null hypothesis significance tests. A mix-up of two different theories: the basis for widespread confusion an," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 621-625, April.
    13. Shuaijun Guo & Xiaoming Yu & Orkan Okan, 2020. "Moving Health Literacy Research and Practice towards a Vision of Equity, Precision and Transparency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-14, October.
    14. Rosa Virginia Encinas Quille & Felipe Valencia de Almeida & Mauro Yuji Ohara & Pedro Luiz Pizzigatti Corrêa & Leandro Gomes de Freitas & Solange Nice Alves-Souza & Jorge Rady de Almeida & Maggie Davis, 2023. "Architecture of a Data Portal for Publishing and Delivering Open Data for Atmospheric Measurement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-20, April.
    15. repec:osf:metaar:2bj85_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Traylor, Wolfgang, 2024. "Model-based experiments as epistemic evidence in paleoecology," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 498(C).
    17. Urs Fischbacher & Irenaeus Wolff, 2023. "Editorial: Symposium “Pre-results review”," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(3), pages 491-498, July.
    18. Daniele Fanelli & Rodrigo Costas & Vincent Larivière, 2015. "Misconduct Policies, Academic Culture and Career Stage, Not Gender or Pressures to Publish, Affect Scientific Integrity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Jens Rommel & Meike Weltin, 2021. "Is There a Cult of Statistical Significance in Agricultural Economics?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1176-1191, September.
    20. repec:osf:metaar:9a3rw_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Alexandre Galvão Patriota, 2018. "Is NHST logically flawed? Commentary on: “NHST is still logically flawed”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 2189-2191, September.
    22. Nick Haslam & Naomi Baes, 2023. "Scientific eminence and scientific hierarchy: bibliometric prediction of fellowship in the Australian Academy of Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(12), pages 6659-6674, December.
    23. Fabo, Brian & Jančoková, Martina & Kempf, Elisabeth & Pástor, Ľuboš, 2021. "Fifty shades of QE: Comparing findings of central bankers and academics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-20.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0303262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.