In praise of value judgments in null hypothesis testing…and of "accepting" the null hypothesis.

Abstract

Comments on the article by R. L. Hagen (see record 1997-02239-002) on null hypothesis testing. Hagen's article is constrained to the logic of deduction from an already formulated null hypothesis and the scientific conclusions that are validly drawn from one statistical decision or another. It is argued that subjective value judgment preceding the construction of the null hypothesis is an obscure precursor of the scientific logic of null hypothesis testing and that subsequent actions taken in professional practice as a result of failure to reject the null hypothesis constitutes its acceptance. ((c) 1998 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)