I just came across the paper below by White & Gorard who argue against the use of inferential statistical tests:
"the assumptions underlying inferential statistical tests are rarely met, meaning that students are being
taught analyses that should only be used very rarely. Secondly, all of the most
common outputs of inferential statistical tests – p-values, standard errors and
confidence intervals – suffer from a similar logical problem that renders them at best
useless and at worst misleading. Eliminating inferential statistical tests from statistics
teaching (and practice) would avoid the creation of another generation of
researchers who either do not understand, or knowingly misuse, these techniques."
https://iase-web.org/documents/SERJ/SERJ16(1)_White.pdf
As an instructor and statistical consultant, who apparently does not understand and has unknowingly misused these techniques, I would be very interested to hear the thoughts/opinions of others on this topic!
Thanks,
Brian
