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An extended refutation text and funny videos reduce notorious p-value misconceptions.
1Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany. markus.hefter@uni-bielefeld.de.
Scientific Reports
|May 23, 2026
Summary
Psychology students often misunderstand p-values. A 10-minute digital intervention using refutation texts and humor effectively reduced these misconceptions, improving conceptual understanding.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Statistics Education
Background:
- P-value misconceptions are prevalent among psychology students and supervisors.
- Existing educational approaches have limitations in addressing these statistical misunderstandings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel method for assessing p-value misconceptions.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a short digital intervention, enhanced with humor, in correcting these misconceptions.
Main Methods:
- An online experiment with 157 undergraduate psychology students was conducted.
- A 2x2 factorial design compared a digital intervention (refutation text) with a control condition and funny versus neutral videos.
- A novel assessment combining correctness and subjective certainty was used.
Main Results:
- The digital intervention significantly improved participants' conceptual change scores regarding p-values.
- Humorous videos provided an additional positive effect, enhancing the intervention's impact.
- The intervention was effective in a short timeframe (approximately 10 minutes).
Conclusions:
- Extended refutation texts, especially when enhanced with humor, offer a potent and convenient digital refresher for p-value misconceptions.
- This approach is particularly beneficial for psychology students needing further clarification after introductory statistics courses.
- The findings highlight the potential of innovative digital tools in statistical education.
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