A Lesson in Critical Thinking Skills for Researchers, Students, and Other Curious Minds Have you ever been the party pooper who interrupts a casual conversation with a skeptical, “But what’s the sample size?” or “Did they actually measure happiness, though?” If so, welcome to the club! You’re officially one of those wonderfully annoying critical thinkers …
Some students avoid statistics. Others dive in headfirst. One student I met this week did the latter—spending hundreds of hours teaching himself statistical analysis from scratch using textbooks, Google, and R Studio. And no, he did not use AI. By the time he came to me to check his results, he had done a solid …
The Scenario A student recently approached me to review their dissertation proposal, which had been rejected by their school’s proposal committee. I had not been involved in the proposal. One of the key issues was that the student had confused the concepts of mediation and moderation, which led to flaws in the argument, hypotheses, statistical …
Lessons from My Students: Mediation versus Moderation Read More »
Less is More – Consolidation is Key The Scenario A recent dissertation I reviewed contained over 100 small tables and graphs, each presenting a single aspect of the student’s findings. Tables were presented per demographic and item, for example, the respondents’ level of education, years of experience, and age group (there were six such small …
Are you an academic or postgraduate student feeling overwhelmed by your research? Are you having trouble analyzing your data or interpreting your statistical results? One key concept that can assist you is understanding what statistical significance truly means and, more importantly, what it signifies for your research. What Is Statistical Significance Telling You? Statistical significance …
In a previous post, I spoke about what a statistically significant result means and doesn’t mean. A significant result may mean very little, not necessarily anything to inspire you to throw a party or make a supportive parent proud. A significant result does not tell you how strong – or meaningful – your result is. …
How Strong are Your Statistical Results? The Concept of Effect Size Read More »
If you’re involved in research, you’ve likely come across the notation ‘p < .05’ in journal articles or elsewhere, or you’re using this notation in your writing to indicate a statistically significant result. It is used pretty much everywhere, almost as a mantra across studies. But do you know what p < .05 actually means? …
Effect size: How strong are your statistical results, even your significant ones? In a previous post, I spoke about what a significant result means and doesn’t mean. A significant result may mean very little, not necessarily anything to inspire you to throw a party or make a supportive parent proud. What it doesn’t tell …
Effect size: How strong are your statistical results, even your significant ones? Read More »
If you’re involved in research, you’ve likely come across the notation ‘p < .05’ in journal articles or elsewhere, or you’re using this notation in your own writing to indicate a statistically significant result. It is used pretty much everywhere, almost as a mantra across research studies. But do you know what p < …