Three Roles for Statistical Significance and the Validity Frontier in Theory Testing

Allen Lee, Kaveh Mohajeri, Geoffrey Hubona

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPaper in conference proceedingpeer-review

Abstract

This study offers a method for empirically testing theories operationalized in the form of multivariate statistical models. An innovation of the method is that it distinguishes testing into three separate forms, “effect testing,” “prediction testing,” and “theory testing,”where statistical significance plays a separate role in each one. In another innovation, the researcher specifies not only his or her desired level of statistical significance, but also his or her desired level of practical significance. Statistical significance and practical significance each serve as a dimension in a two-dimensional table that specifies the rejection region– the region where the researcher can justify the decision to reject the theory being tested. The boundary of the rejection region is the “validity frontier,” which ongoing research may advance so as to reduce the sizeof the rejection region.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
PublisherIEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages5737-5746
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)978-0-9981331-0-2
ISBN (Print)978-0-9981331-0-2
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Jan 4

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Information Systems, Social aspects
  • Economics and Business

Free keywords

  • theory testing
  • hypothesis testing
  • statistical significance
  • practical significance
  • rejection region

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