It’s time for science to abandon the term ‘statistically significant’ | Aeon Essays

It’s time for science to abandon the term ‘statistically significant’ – David Colquhoun | Aeon Essays

The aim of science is to establish facts, as accurately as possible. It is therefore crucially important to determine whether an observed phenomenon is real, or whether it’s the result of pure chance. If you declare that you’ve discovered something when in fact it’s just random, that’s called a false discovery or a false positive.