The significance of p

By Charles ChungJun 28, 2022
After 20 years or so in research, I think that I am finally 95% sure that I understand the significance of p.  It is often said (as I have done) in many a Methods Section that a “p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant”.  I now think this is sloppy writing.  First an aside about the dangers of a threshold.   When p>0.05 there’s often several (bad) things we might do:  Such as really bad- I.e. p-hacking https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25768323/  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27510514/  Or sometimes useful and sometimes hilarious- I.e. playing fast and loose with our words (like these many examples: https://mchankins.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/still-not-significant-2/  https://twitter.com/mc_hankins)   But this all…
semantics, stats
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Why I like π.

By Charles ChungMar 14, 2022
...or why I dislike τ. ...or I should have called it πEk. This is a site for a physiology lab, and there is physiology later in this post! But, my undergraduate degree was a dual major in physics and mathematics.  So, as an established nerd, I have a long history of using π.  ...or should I say 2π cause its #^@&’n everywhere in physics.  Now, there’s a trend in physics and math(s) that is trying to use τ as a short hand in lieu of 2π.  Here’s my short and sweet reason why I don't plan to use τ instead…
Blog, Research, semantics
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