Georgina M. Arredondo Ayala & José Luis Arriaga Ornelas
Making Statistical
Methods More Useful:
Some Suggestions
From a Case Study
Potenciar a utilidade
dos métodos estatísticos:
algumas sugestões a partir
de um estudo de caso
Abstract
I present a critique of the methods used in
a typical article. This leads to three broad
conclusions about the conventional use
of statistical methods. First, results are often reported in an unnecessarily obscure
manner. Second, the null hypothesis testing paradigm is deeply flawed: Estimating the size of effects and citing confidence
intervals or levels is usually better. Third,
there are several issues, independent of the
particular statistical concepts employed,
which limit the value of any statistical approach—for example, difficulties of generalizing to different contexts and the weakness of some research in terms of the size of
the effects found. The first two of these are
easily remedied—I illustrate some of the
possibilities by reanalyzing the data from
the case study article—and the third means
that in some contexts, a statistical approach
may not be worthwhile. My case study is a
management article, but similar problems
arise in other social sciences.
Resumo
Neste texto, é apresentada uma crítica aos
métodos utilizados pelos artigos cient