A comment on confusion in open-field studies: abuse of null-hypothesis significance test.
The confusion in open-field studies which has resulted from a misinterpretation of statistical results was examined. Several discrepant results obtained on the basis of significance tests have revealed that the discrepancy was not so serious as had been thought. Examples of highly reliable but substantially small experimental effects were presented to indicate the erroneous impression given. The expectation that consistent results can always be obtained from even a small sample size was criticized. In order to reduce some of this confusion, the use of strength of association (eta2) together with consideration for statistical power in the interpretation of open-field results was recommended.
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D003672:Defecation; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005239:Fear; D009043:Motor Activity; D051381:Rats; D013223:Statistics as Topic