The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Abuse of Power: The Pervasive Fallacy of Power Calculations for Data Analysis
Abstract
It is well known that statistical power calculations can be valuable in planning an experiment. There is also a large literature advocating that power calculations be made whenever one performs a statistical test of a hypothesis and one obtains a statistically nonsignificant result. Advocates of such post-experiment power calculations claim the calculations should be used to aid in the interpretation of the experimental results. This approach, which appears in various forms, is fundamentally flawed. We document that the problem is extensive and present arguments to demonstrate the flaw in the logic.
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“Post-hoc power analysis is criticized because the type II error calculated using the results of negative clinical trials is always high, which sometimes leads to incorrect conclusions regarding power [13,14].”
From Sample size determination and power analysis using the G*Power software (2021) · cites this paper as [14]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hoenig, J. M., & Heisey, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- ORCID
- Hoenig, John M
- Venue
- The American Statistician
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2001-02
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-24
- ISSN
- 0003-1305 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-2731
- OpenAlex
- W2069523442
- Cited by
- 2,046
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 213 · 2025: 104 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 97 · 2022: 111 · 2021: 111 · 2020: 124 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 103 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 90 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 84 · 2013: 89 · 2012: 79
- FWCI
- 42.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The American Statistician (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
- Keywords
- statistical power, non-significant results, experimental design
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