Critical Values Robust to P-hacking

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: McCloskey, Adam, Michaillat, Pascal
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2020
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author McCloskey, Adam
Michaillat, Pascal
author_facet McCloskey, Adam
Michaillat, Pascal
contents P-hacking is prevalent in reality but absent from classical hypothesis testing theory. As a consequence, significant results are much more common than they are supposed to be when the null hypothesis is in fact true. In this paper, we build a model of hypothesis testing with p-hacking. From the model, we construct critical values such that, if the values are used to determine significance, and if scientists' p-hacking behavior adjusts to the new significance standards, significant results occur with the desired frequency. Such robust critical values allow for p-hacking so they are larger than classical critical values. To illustrate the amount of correction that p-hacking might require, we calibrate the model using evidence from the medical sciences. In the calibrated model the robust critical value for any test statistic is the classical critical value for the same test statistic with one fifth of the significance level.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2005_04141
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Critical Values Robust to P-hacking
McCloskey, Adam
Michaillat, Pascal
Econometrics
Methodology
P-hacking is prevalent in reality but absent from classical hypothesis testing theory. As a consequence, significant results are much more common than they are supposed to be when the null hypothesis is in fact true. In this paper, we build a model of hypothesis testing with p-hacking. From the model, we construct critical values such that, if the values are used to determine significance, and if scientists' p-hacking behavior adjusts to the new significance standards, significant results occur with the desired frequency. Such robust critical values allow for p-hacking so they are larger than classical critical values. To illustrate the amount of correction that p-hacking might require, we calibrate the model using evidence from the medical sciences. In the calibrated model the robust critical value for any test statistic is the classical critical value for the same test statistic with one fifth of the significance level.
title Critical Values Robust to P-hacking
topic Econometrics
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.04141