Practical significance is concerned with whether a research result is useful in the real world. The use of procedures to supplement the null hypothesis significance test in four journals of the American Psychological Association is examined, and an approach to assessing practical significance is presented. (SLD)

Examined the historical growth in the popularity of statistical significance testing using a random sample of data from 12 American Psychological Association journals. Results replicate and extend findings from a study that used only one such journal. Discusses the role of statistical significance testing and the use of replication and…

Suggest that the call for more pointed graduate education and more affirmative journal policies on replication-extension made by R. Hubbard and P. Ryan is useful, although inadequate and probably pointless. Statistical significance testing appears to be here to stay despite the charge that it is of "marginal scientific value." (SLD)

Suggests that replication research and meta-analysis are not substitutes for statistical significance testing, but rather, like measures of effect size, they are complements to statistical significance testing. Significance testing does provide a means for determining what might be usefully replicated. (SLD)

The Hubbard and Ryan article is a little ingenuous in its implications for action. Both meta-analyses and replication have problems of their own; each requires careful attention. Good measurement emphasizes proper sampling techniques and using whatever means possible to analyze data. (SLD)

Agrees with R. Hubbard and P. Ryan that statistical significance testing has had a negative impact in that some users have closed their minds to alternative approaches to conducting research. In marketing, the alternatives are not completely satisfactory, however, and researchers are likely to continue to rely on statistical significance testing.…

Analyzed 150 articles from the "Journal of Applied Psychology" (JAP) from 1940 to 1999 to determine statistical reporting practices related to null hypothesis significance testing, American Psychological Association guidelines, and reform recommendations. Findings show little evidence that decades of cogent criticisms by reformers have…

Introduces the three subsequent articles from this special section, which extend the discussion of future prospects for progress in the reporting and interpreting of effect sizes by researchers. The authors of these pieces represent diverse views. (SLD)

Makes the case that science is best served when researchers focus on the size of effects and their practical significance. Advocates the use of confidence intervals for deciding whether chance or sampling variability is an unlikely explanation for an observed effect. Calls for more emphasis on effect sizes in the next edition of the American…

Researchers, journal editors, textbook authors, and those responsible for writing publication manuals must work together to enhance the thoughtful reporting of statistical results and to make clear the necessity for reporting effect sizes. (SLD)

Suggests that researchers should report the results of appropriate significance tests and the effect sizes associated with each test. Discusses the roles of textbook authors, publication manuals, and journal editors in leading the movement to better statistical reporting. (SLD)