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April 1990, Vol 144, No. 4 >
Article | April 1990

P Values FREE

George W. Brown, MD
[+] Author Affiliations

Accepted for publication November 20, 1989.

Reprint requests to Los Lunas Hospital and Training School, Box 1269, Los Lunas, NM 87031 (Dr Brown).


Am J Dis Child. 1990;144(4):493-495. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1990.02150280115026.
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The use of P values (eg, P≤.05 or similar notation) is commonplace in research reports in medical journals. There are two kinds of P values of interest to journal readers. One is the value selected by the researcher as the accepted "risk of the type I error," "α risk," or "rejection region." It is a widespread custom to use.05 as a convenient cut-point for "statistical significance." (This convention is a part of the statistical legacy of the British statistician, Sir Ronald A. Fisher.) The second kind of P value is the observed value from a statistical test, that is, the value resulting from application of a test (eg, t or Χ2 test) to observations. Since the "P" in P value implies a probability, most medical journals1 use an uppercase P, reserving a lowercase p to signify proportions. The aim here is to look at some slippery features

REFERENCES

1 +
Iverson C, Dan BB, Glitman P, et al. American Medical Association Manual of Style . 8th ed. Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins; 1989;.
2 +
O'Brien PC.  The appropriateness of analysis of variance and multiple comparison procedures . Biometrics . 1983;;39:787-788.
3 +
Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity Cooperative Group.  Multicenter trial of cryotherapy for retinopathy of prematurity: preliminary results . Pediatrics . 1988;;81:697-706.
4 +
McPherson K.  Statistics: the problem of examining accumulating data more than once . N Engl JMed . 1974;;290:501-502.
5 +
Pocock SJ.  Size of cancer trials and stopping rules . Br J Cancer . 1978;;38:757-766.
6 +
Pocock SJ.  Interim analyses for randomized clinical trials: the group sequential approach . Biometrics . 1982;;38:153-162.
7 +
Pocock SJ, Hughes MD, Lee RJ.  Statistical problems in the reporting of clinical trials . N Engl J Med . 1987;;317:426-432.
8 +
Geller NL, Pocock SJ.  Interim analyses in randomized clinical trials . Biometrics . 1987;;43:213-223.
9 +
Silverman WA. Human Experimentation: A Guided Step Into the Unknown . New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc; 1985;.

Figures

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Interactive Graphics

Video

Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature

Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal

References

1 +
Iverson C, Dan BB, Glitman P, et al. American Medical Association Manual of Style . 8th ed. Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins; 1989;.
2 +
O'Brien PC.  The appropriateness of analysis of variance and multiple comparison procedures . Biometrics . 1983;;39:787-788.
3 +
Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity Cooperative Group.  Multicenter trial of cryotherapy for retinopathy of prematurity: preliminary results . Pediatrics . 1988;;81:697-706.
4 +
McPherson K.  Statistics: the problem of examining accumulating data more than once . N Engl JMed . 1974;;290:501-502.
5 +
Pocock SJ.  Size of cancer trials and stopping rules . Br J Cancer . 1978;;38:757-766.
6 +
Pocock SJ.  Interim analyses for randomized clinical trials: the group sequential approach . Biometrics . 1982;;38:153-162.
7 +
Pocock SJ, Hughes MD, Lee RJ.  Statistical problems in the reporting of clinical trials . N Engl J Med . 1987;;317:426-432.
8 +
Geller NL, Pocock SJ.  Interim analyses in randomized clinical trials . Biometrics . 1987;;43:213-223.
9 +
Silverman WA. Human Experimentation: A Guided Step Into the Unknown . New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc; 1985;.

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