A Bureaucrat Explains Statistical Significance

Copyright 1997 American Chemical Society
Chemical and Engineering News (December 8, 1997)


The "Feedback" column of New Scientist (Oct. 4, page 80) reported the following conversation with somebody at Britain's Office of National Statistics (ONS) while in search of a definition of "statistical significance."

Feedback: "Could you tell me the definition of statistical significance?"

ONS: "What do you mean?"

Feedback: "You know, if you sample a population, when does that sample become statistically significant? When is it taken into account?"

ONS: "Well, we sample the population every other year, we collect the data, print it... and then it becomes significant."


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