The magical influence of statistical significance

Abstract

This paper examined 1122 statistical tests found in 55 master theses accredited during 1995-2000 at Mu'tah University. It tried to answer two main questions: First, do researchers still relying on the level of significance (a) as the only criterion to judge the importance of relations and differences? Second, to what extent practical significance can be found along with statistical significance? Results showed that researchers do consider statistical significance as the only criterion to judge the importance of their findings. 74.33% of the statistically significant tests were having a small practical significance, and only 10.27% were of large practical significance.