Abstract
During the past 40 years, the vast majority of students trained in the social sciences have been taught the "received view" of null-hypothesis significance-testing (NHST). Social science researchers following the received review have approached their work with a heavy reliance on statistical tests, which have been strongly identified with probability or "significance" testing. The process of "rejecting" or "retaining" the null hypothesis has dictated this research, leaving the hope of accepting an alternative, explanatory hypothesis to the mercies of somewhat arbitrary designations of chance probabilities (e.g. p < .05). However, over the years a growing number of researchers have argued against the received view of statistical inference (e.g., Carver, 1978; Cohen, 1994; Hunter, 1997; Loftus, 1996). In fact, the American Psychological Association's (APA) Board of Scientific Affairs has recently considered prohibiting the reporting of significance tests in APA journals (Shrout, 1997). However, there are strong supporters of NHST, who state that critiques of NHST tend to be metatheoretical assertions that do not take into account the fact that rejection of HQ is only one factor in the practice of testing a theoretical hypothesis (Abelson, 1997; Chow, 1996; Cortina, & Dunlap, 1997; Frick, 1996). This book (see record 2004-13019-000) takes issue with the received view and foresees a future in which the NHST in social science research will diminish. Kline is calling for a "paradigm shift," in which social science will more closely reflect the hard sciences. A primary goal of this book is to argue that NHST is an inadequate tool for advancement of social sciences research. Kline does an exceptional job of providing readers with an elucidation of the methods necessary for the praxes of effect size estimation and interval estimation for effect sizes. Unfortunately, Kline does not spend a great deal of time responding to claims, radical as he may feel that they are, made by NHST supporters who call into question the assumed significance of the effect size. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)