Cited by 267Meta-analysis and systematic reviewsPsychology Research and BibliometricsStatistical Methods and Bayesian Inference

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A peculiar prevalence of p values just below .05

Masicampo, E.J., Lalande, Daniel R.·2012·Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

DOI 10.1080/17470218.2012.711335

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Abstract

In null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), p values are judged relative to an arbitrary threshold for significance (.05). The present work examined whether that standard influences the distribution of p values reported in the psychology literature. We examined a large subset of papers from three highly regarded journals. Distributions of p were found to be similar across the different journals. Moreover, p values were much more common immediately below .05 than would be expected based on the number of p values occurring in other ranges. This prevalence of p values just below the arbitrary criterion for significance was observed in all three journals. We discuss potential sources of this pattern, including publication bias and researcher degrees of freedom.

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Authors: Masicampo, E. J., & Lalande, D. R.
Affiliations: Wake Forest University (US)
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (CA)
Corresponding author: Masicampo, E.J.
Lalande, Daniel R.
ORCID: Masicampo, E.J.
Lalande, Daniel R.
Venue: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2012-11
Volume: 65
Issue: 11
Pages: 2271-2279
ISSN: 0033-555X (ISSN-L)
1747-0218
1747-0226
DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2012.711335
OpenAlex: W2112039868
Cited by: 266
References: 32
Citations by year: 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 4
FWCI: 21.52
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychology Research and Bibliometrics
Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
Keywords: p-values, null hypothesis significance testing, significance threshold, p-value distribution, publication bias, researcher degrees of freedom, statistical reporting, psychology journals
MeSH terms: Humans, Probability, Psychology, Statistics as Topic, Prevalence, Databases, Bibliographic, Publication Bias

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A peculiar prevalence of p values just below .05

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