De-emphasizing Statistical Significance

Abstract

Persistent and difficult methodological issues, such as those highlighted in Ohlson J. (2022. Empirical accounting seminars: Elephants in the room. Accounting, Economics, and Law: A convivium, forthcoming), undermine confidence in the results of empirical studies. Many of these issues relate to the efforts of researchers to defend the statistical significance of their results. However, the seemingly endless combination of methodologies that can be employed make statistical significance a somewhat illusory concept. A more productive approach would be to place greater emphasis on the economic significance of empirical results.