Clinical significance not statistical significance: a simple Bayesian alternative to p values

摘要

Main results and conclusions-The ap- proach proposed expresses conclusions in a manner that is believed to be a helpful adjunct to more conventional inferential statements. It is of greatest value in those situations in which statistical significance may bear little relation to clinical signifi- cance and a conventional analysis using p values if liable to be misleading. Perhaps most importantly, this includes circum- stances in which an important public health or clinical decision must be based upon a study that has unavoidably low sta- tistical power.