I did a biology undergraduate degree and often did reports where would statistically analyse our results. P value of less than 0.05 shows that the results are statistically significant. How do these tests actually know the data is significant? For example we might look at correlation and get a significant positive correlation between two variables. Given that variables can be literally anything in question, how does doing a few statistical calculations determine it is significant? I always thought there must be more nuance as the actual variables can be so many different things. It might show me a significant relationship for two sociological variables and also for two mathematical, when those variables are so different?
In: Mathematics
Scientists are usually cautious to specifically not use the word “prove.” Statistical significance levels are generally sort of arbitrary, but a P value of 0.05 indicates that there is a 5% chance that the results are due to chance alone rather than the experimental manipulation. There is always the chance of Type I and Type II error (false positive/negatives) which is why replication is important.
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