Question

In a study for a significant difference in the effect of two medications on total cholesterol level, a .07 level of significance was found. What was the conclusion of the researchers about the significant difference in the medications and how were they reach the conclusion?

Answer 1

It can be understood that the 0.07 level of significance found in the study for significant difference between the effects of two medications on cholesterol level is, in fact, the p-value of the test.

The value 0.07 can be interpreted as follows:

If there is no significant difference between the effects of the two medications on cholesterol level, then the probability of getting a test statistic value at least as extreme as the value observed is 0.07.

Now, while arriving at a conclusion using p-value, it must be compared with the pre-determined significance level (α). If p-value ≤ α, then reject the null hypothesis. In this case, the null hypothesis is likely to be “no significant difference between the effects of the two medications”.

The commonly used significance levels are 0.001, 0.01, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, etc.

It can be observed that the p-value of 0.07 is greater than most of the significance levels, and less than 0.1. Thus, from among the above mentioned significance levels, there will be support for the claim of a significant difference, only when the significance level is 0.1.

Thus, for any significance level that is at least 0.07, the researchers can come to the conclusion that there is evidence of a significant difference between the effects of the two medications on cholesterol level.

For any significance level less than 0.07, the researchers finds no evidence of a significant difference between the effects of the two medications on cholesterol level.