Gao: ‘Misunderstanding of P-values Spells Disaster’

A greater understanding of the p-value could go a long way in trying to combat contradictory health advice, Jian Gao with the Department of Veterans Affairs writes in a post on The Incidental Economist.

Gao writes that the tool which is generally used as a safeguard against randomness “has been widely misinterpreted as the probability that a treatment does not work or a finding is by chance.”

“As a result, the p-value has become the sine qua non for deciding if a study finding is real or by chance, a paper will be accepted or rejected, a grant will be funded or declined, a treatment is effective or harmful, or if a drug will be approved or denied by the FDA,” Gao writes.

To read the full blog post, click here.