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Published on: April 19, 2019
Psychology without p values. Data analysis at the turn of the 19th century
L D Smith1, L A Best, V A Cylke
1Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono 04469-5742, USA. ldsmith@maine.edu
Abstract:
Although the fledgling psychology of 100 years ago was assertively empirical, there were no inferential statistics to guide psychologists' data analyses. However, 19th-century developments had left psychology with a rich array of techniques for analyzing and presenting data, some of which remain underutilized today. These include comparisons across replications, within-subject designs, reanalysis of data, analyses of factorial designs, and especially the use of tables and graphs. As the merits of hypothesis-testing statistics are debated at the turn of the 21st century, the history of data-handling practices can remind psychologists that there are many ways to overcome the current uniformity of statistical practice.
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