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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Visualizing Efficacy of Pesticides Against Disease Vector Mosquitoes in the Field
Published on: March 16, 2019
Perspective: Scientific rigor or ritual? Statistical significance in pest management science
Brendan Cs Alexander1, Adam S Davis1
1Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA.
Abstract:
P values, binary hypothesis tests, and statistical significance are too often overused or used incorrectly in pest management reports. These statistical results are not the point of an analysis, they are just a by-product that can sometimes be informative. The point of the analysis is always a biological interpretation of the data focusing on whether something new has been learned and then quantifying what was learned in terms of biological effects or supported hypotheses. The term 'statistical significance' should be retired if only because of the common misunderstanding that it implies biological relevance; these terms are not equivalent. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.
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