Hypothesis Testing and Multiplicative Interaction Terms
Abstract
When a statistical equation incorporates a multiplicative term in an attempt to model interaction effects, the statistical significance of the lower-order coefficients is largely useless for the typical purposes of hypothesis testing. This fact remains largely unappreciated in political science, however. This brief article explains this point, provides examples, and offers some suggestions for more meaningful interpretation.
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Direct effects with significant coefficients are often slightly stronger than in the baseline model.
“Direct effects with significant coefficients are also often slightly stronger than in the baseline model, which is not surprising because it assumes the effect of the other variables to be equal to zero (Braumoeller, 2004).”
From Drivers of Female Labour Force Participation in the OECD (2013) · cites this paper as Braumoeller, 2004
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- Authors
- Braumoeller, B. F.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Braumoeller, Bear F.
- ORCID
- Braumoeller, Bear F.
- Venue
- International Organization
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2004-10
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 807-820
- ISSN
- 0020-8183 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5088
- OpenAlex
- W2056720463
- Cited by
- 816
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 200.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Organization (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Statistical Methods and Models
- Keywords
- interaction effects, hypothesis testing, lower-order coefficients, statistical significance, political science research
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