TY - JOUR
T1 - The fallacy of the null hypothesis in soft psychology
AU - Waller, Niels G.
PY - 2004/6
Y1 - 2004/6
N2 - In his classic article on the fallacy of the null hypothesis in soft psychology [J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 46 (1978)], Paul Meehl claimed that, in nonexperimental settings, the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis of nil group differences in favor of a directional alternative was 0.50-a value that is an order of magnitude higher than the customary Type I error rate. In a series of real data simulations, using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Revised (MMPI-2) data collected from more than 80,000 individuals, I found strong support for Meehl's claim.
AB - In his classic article on the fallacy of the null hypothesis in soft psychology [J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 46 (1978)], Paul Meehl claimed that, in nonexperimental settings, the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis of nil group differences in favor of a directional alternative was 0.50-a value that is an order of magnitude higher than the customary Type I error rate. In a series of real data simulations, using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Revised (MMPI-2) data collected from more than 80,000 individuals, I found strong support for Meehl's claim.
KW - MMPI-2
KW - Null hypothesis
KW - Soft psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3242742262&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=3242742262&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.appsy.2004.02.015
DO - 10.1016/j.appsy.2004.02.015
M3 - Comment/debate
AN - SCOPUS:3242742262
SN - 0962-1849
VL - 11
SP - 83
EP - 86
JO - Applied and Preventive Psychology
JF - Applied and Preventive Psychology
IS - 1
ER -