TUTORIAL SECTION Models with interactions: test type and misinterpretation

摘要

Analysts need to be careful when interpreting and presenting statistics. It is easy to misinterpret regression analyses, particularly when these include interaction terms. No matter what is written in the body of the paper, many readers (myself included) will directly interpret the models and give only a cursory glance to any warnings. If readers are not familiar with interactions and the way that significance is computed by the software, there is a danger that the models will be misinterpreted. Without the appropriate test statistics, readers are also forced into "making up their own minds" as to the size, direction and significance of certain effects.