Essay

Explain how researchers can develop an intuitive judgment of statistical significance before performing formal null hypothesis tests. In your answer, identify the two specific descriptive statistics that researchers evaluate, the general heuristic used to predict statistical significance, and the primary benefit of developing this expectation.

Question: Explain how researchers can develop an intuitive judgment of statistical significance before performing formal null hypothesis tests. In your answer, identify the two specific descriptive statistics that researchers evaluate, the general heuristic used to predict statistical significance, and the primary benefit of developing this expectation.

Sample answer: Researchers can develop an intuitive judgment of statistical significance by evaluating the combination of relationship strength and sample size. The general heuristic states that strong relationships in medium or large samples are reliably statistically significant, whereas weak relationships in small or medium samples are not. Cultivating this judgment allows researchers to form accurate expectations prior to running formal null hypothesis tests, serving as a safeguard to detect potential computational or interpretive errors in their analyses.

Key points:

  • Evaluate relationship strength and sample size.
  • Strong relationships in medium or large samples are reliably statistically significant.
  • Weak relationships in small or medium samples are not reliably statistically significant.
  • Serves as a safeguard to detect computational or interpretive errors.

Rubric: Award full credit if the response correctly identifies the two descriptive statistics (relationship strength and sample size), states the general heuristic (strong relationships in medium/large samples are significant; weak relationships in small/medium samples are not), and explains the benefit of this judgment (acting as a safeguard to catch computational or interpretive errors).

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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