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Comparing Memory Test Performance

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The author of the following excerpt concluded that the study was statistically significant. The hypothetical research article compared memory test performance between two groups of participants: those who consumed a caffeinated beverage before the test and those who consumed a non-caffeinated beverage:
An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine the difference between experimental conditions on test performance. The results indicated a significant difference between participants who consumed the caffeinated beverage and participants who did not, with participants in the caffeinated group (M = 7.64, SD = 2.41) performing worse than participants in the non-caffeinated group (M = 9.81, SD = 3.16), t (97) = 2.14, p < .05.
It tells that the t-statistic with 97 degrees of freedom was 2.14, and the corresponding p-value was less than .05, specifically around 0.035. Therefore, it is appropriate to conclude the research study was statistically significant.
But what does a statistically significant result really mean?
The main purpose of the most researchers in conducting a research study is to achieve a statistically significant result. When we say statistically significant, it means that the result in a research study was not attributed to chance. In addition, it also means …show more content…

P-value represents a decimal between 1.0 to below .01. Unfortunately, the level of commonly accepted p-value is 0.05. The level of frequency of P>0.05 means that there is one in twenty chance that the whole study is just accidental. In other words, that there is one in twenty chance that a result may be positive in spite of having no actual relationship. This value is an estimate of the probability that the result has occurred by statistical accident. Thus, a small value of P represents a high level of statistical significance and vice

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