Does Significance Matter?

Abstract

The name of this magazine was the subject of fierce debate. Although “significance” is a word often associated with statistics, it is very often misapplied or misunderstood. Its technical implications differ from the everyday use of the word and competing schools of thought within statistics have varying views on the correct usage. As the magazine is launched, R. Allan Reese examines some of these ideas from the viewpoint of a pragmatic data ­analyst.