Question

Mice" and "statistical significance" are used. EXHIBIT 2 Albatross Adaptability Animal Sexuality? Title: Can Animals Be Gay? Author: Jon Mooallem Source: New York Times, March 31, 2010, http://www. nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/O4animals-t. html?pagewanted Sall Evolutionarily speaking, reproduction is more than just the physical act of sex. Reproduction is only successful if offspring are able to reach sexual maturity themselves and further reproduce. So forming a zygote only gets you to the halfway mark. In the case of the albatross and other oviparous species where the young require parental care, maybe same-sex couples are more effective at raising the fledglings. Comment by a reader: Is there data comparing chick viability from same-sex versus male-female nests? The research cites % of the albatross pairs as same-sex, and I'd say that's a statistically significant percentage (emphasis added], so it can't be just some mutation in some of the birds. I'm very curious to learn whether this behavior is inherited or learned. Fascinating research Question 1. We've learned that when phrases like "statistically significant" are being used, some comparison is being done. What, if anything, is being compared here in the reader's comment about "% of the albatross pairs as same-sex" being statistically significant? Is the phrase "statistically significant" being used in a meaningful way? Why or why not? 282 BEYOND THE NUMBERS 3.18

Answer 1

Statistical significance : The term statistical significance is used when the probability of something occuring by chance is very very less (more often less than 5% of the times). When we say that something is statistically significant, like with respect to the question "1/3 of the albatross pair with the same sex", we mean that the probability of "1/3 of the Albatros Pairing with same sex" by chance is very less. It has to true, since it is not just that the selected group had ratio by chance. Therefore the term statistically significant is used here in a meaningful way.