Researchers misunderstand confidence intervals and standard error bars

被引：240

作者：

Belia, S ^{[1
]}

Fidler, F ^{[1
]}

Williams, J ^{[1
]}

Cumming, G ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] La Trobe Univ, Sch Psychol Sci, Melbourne, Vic 3086, Australia

来源：

PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS | 2005年 / 10卷 / 04期

关键词：

confidence intervals; statistical cognition; standard error; error bars; statistical reform;

D O I：

10.1037/1082-989X.10.4.389

中图分类号：

B84 [心理学];

学科分类号：

04 ; 0402 ;

摘要：

Little is known about researchers' understanding of confidence intervals (CIs) and standard error (SE) bars. Authors of journal articles in psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and medicine were invited to visit a Web site where they adjusted a figure until they judged 2 means, with error bars, to be just statistically significantly different (P <.05). Results from 473 respondents suggest that many leading researchers have severe misconceptions about how error bars relate to statistical significance, do not adequately distinguish CIs and SE bars, and do not appreciate the importance of whether the 2 means are independent or come from a repeated measures design. Better guidelines for researchers and less ambiguous graphical conventions are needed before the advantages of CIs for research communication can be realized.

引用

页码：389 / 396

页数：8

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