The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
When should we use one-tailed hypothesis testing?
Open accessAbstract
Summary: 1. Although one‐tailed hypothesis tests are commonly used, clear justification for why this approach is used is often missing from published papers. 2. Here we suggest explicit questions authors should ask of themselves when deciding whether or not to adopt one‐tailed tests. 3. First, we suggest that authors should only use a one‐tailed test if they can explain why they are more interested in an effect in one direction and not the other. 4. We suggest a further requirement that adoption of one‐tailed testing requires an explanation why the authors would treat a large observed difference in the unexpected direction no differently from a difference in the expected direction that was not strong enough to justify rejection of the null hypothesis. 5. These justifications should be included in published works that use one‐tailed tests, allowing editors, reviewers and readers the ability to evaluate the appropriateness of the adoption of one‐tailed testing. 6. We feel that adherence to our suggestions will allow authors to use one‐tailed tests more appropriately, and readers to form their own opinion about such appropriateness when one‐tailed tests are used.
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“The use of a one-sided test requires justification of why a treatment effect is only of interest when it is in a defined direction and why they would treat a large effect in the unexpected direction no differently from a nonsignificant difference [43].”
From Reporting animal research: Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 (2020) · cites this paper as [43]
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Cites
Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
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One- Versus Two-Tailed Hypothesis Tests in Contemporary Educational Research
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Directional decision for a two-tailed alternative
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Reporting animal research: Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0
Percie du Sert, N., Ahluwalia, A., Alam, S., Avey, M. T., Baker, M., Browne, W. J., Clark, A., Cuthill, I. C., Dirnagl, U., Emerson, M., et al. (2020) · PLOS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000411 · Cited by 2,677
“The use of a one-sided test requires justification of why a treatment effect is only of interest when it is in a defined direction and why they would treat a large effect in the unexpected direction no differently from a nonsignificant difference [43].”
MethodKazdin, A. E. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108993647.010 · Cited by 279
Uttley, J. (2019) · LEUKOS The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America · doi:10.1080/15502724.2018.1533851 · Cited by 217
Does Politics Influence Hiring? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Gift, K., & Gift, T. (2015) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-014-9286-0 · Cited by 293
A single-cell atlas of the aging mouse ovary
Isola, J. V. V., Ocañas, S. R., Hubbart, C. R., Ko, S.-H., Mondal, S. A., Hense, J. D., Carter, H. N. C., Schneider, A., Kovats, S., Alberola‐Ila, J., et al. (2024) · Nature Aging · doi:10.1038/s43587-023-00552-5 · Cited by 204
Metadata
- Authors
- Ruxton, G. D., & Neuhäuser, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Koblenz University of Applied Sciences (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Ruxton, Graeme D.
- Venue
- Methods in Ecology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-05-04
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 114-117
- ISSN
- 2041-210X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1563749973
- Cited by
- 269
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 7.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Methods in Ecology and Evolution (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Probability and Statistical Research
- Keywords
- null hypothesis significance testing, statistical reporting guidelines, research reproducibility
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