Still. Not. Significant.

Created on October 05, 2015

2015   ·   p values   p=0.05   significance   statistical significance   statistics   ·   Academic Humour   Adjuncts (guest posts)

This post originally appeared on Matthew Hankin’s blog, Probable Error. Follow Matthew on twitter @mc_hankins.

What to do if your p-value is just over the arbitrary threshold for ‘significance’ of p=0.05?

You don’t need to play the significance testing game – there are better methods, like quoting the effect size with a confidence interval – but if you do, the rules are simple: the result is either significant or it isn’t.

An explanation of p-values, by the excellent [XKCD comics](https://xkcd.com/1478/).

So if your p-value remains stubbornly higher than 0.05, you should call it ‘non-significant’ and write it up as such. The problem for many authors is that this just isn’t the answer they were looking for: publishing so-called ‘negative results’ is harder than ‘positive results’.

The solution is to apply the time-honoured tactic of circumlocution to disguise the non-significant result as something more interesting. The following list is culled from peer-reviewed journal articles in which (a) the authors set themselves the threshold of 0.05 for significance, (b) failed to achieve that threshold value for p and (c) described it in such a way as to make it seem more interesting.

As well as being statistically flawed (results are either significant or not and can’t be qualified), the wording is linguistically interesting, often describing an aspect of the result that just doesn’t exist. For example, “a trend towards significance” expresses non-significance as some sort of motion towards significance, which it isn’t: there is no ‘trend’, in any direction, and nowhere for the trend to be ‘towards’.

Some further analysis will follow, but for now here is the list in full (UPDATE: now in alpha-order):

- (barely) not statistically significant (p=0.052)
- a barely detectable statistically significant difference (p=0.073)
- a borderline significant trend (p=0.09)
- a certain trend toward significance (p=0.08)
- a clear tendency to significance (p=0.052)
- a clear trend (p0.065)
- almost marginally significant (p>0.05)
- almost non-significant (p=0.083)
- almost reached statistical significance (p=0.06)
- almost significant (p=0.06)
- almost significant tendency (p=0.06)
- almost statistically significant (p=0.06)
- an adverse trend (p=0.10)
- an apparent trend (p=0.286)
- an associative trend (p=0.09)
- an elevated trend (p0.05)
- approached but fell short of significance (p=0.07)
- approached conventional levels of significance (p0.08)
- approached significant (p=0.11)
- approached the borderline of significance (p=0.07)
- approached the level of significance (p=0.09)
- approached trend levels of significance (p0.05)
- approached, but did reach, significance (p=0.065)
- approaches but fails to achieve a customary level of statistical significance (p=0.154)
- approaches statistical significance (p>0.06)
- approaching a level of significance (p=0.089)
- approaching an acceptable significance level (p=0.056)
- approaching borderline significance (p=0.08)
- approaching borderline statistical significance (p=0.07)
- approaching but not reaching significance (p=0.53)
- approaching clinical significance (p=0.07)
- approaching close to significance (pp>0.05)
- barely failed to attain statistical significance (p=0.067)
- barely fails to attain statistical significance at conventional levels (p0.05)
- better trends of improvement (p=0.056)
- bordered on a statistically significant value (p=0.06)
- bordered on being significant (p>0.07)
- bordered on being statistically significant (p=0.0502)
- bordered on but was not less than the accepted level of significance (p>0.05)
- bordered on significant (p=0.09)
- borderline conventional significance (p=0.051)
- borderline level of statistical significance (p=0.053)
- borderline significant (p=0.09)
- borderline significant trends (p=0.099)
- close to a marginally significant level (p=0.06)
- close to being significant (p=0.06)
- close to being statistically significant (p=0.055)
- close to borderline significance (p=0.072)
- close to the boundary of significance (p=0.06)
- close to the level of significance (p=0.07)
- close to the limit of significance (p=0.17)
- close to the margin of significance (p=0.055)
- close to the margin of statistical significance (p=0.075)
- closely approaches the brink of significance (p=0.07)
- closely approaches the statistical significance (p=0.0669)
- closely approximating significance (p>0.05)
- closely not significant (p=0.06)
- closely significant (p=0.058)
- close-to-significant (p=0.09)
- did not achieve conventional threshold levels of statistical significance (p=0.08)
- did not exceed the conventional level of statistical significance (p0.05)
- does not narrowly reach statistical significance (p=0.06)
- does not reach the conventional significance level (p=0.098)
- effectively significant (p=0.051)
- equivocal significance (p=0.06)
- essentially significant (p=0.10)
- extremely close to significance (p=0.07)
- failed to reach significance on this occasion (p=0.09)
- failed to reach statistical significance (p=0.06)
- fairly close to significance (p=0.065)
- fairly significant (p=0.09)
- falls just short of standard levels of statistical significance (p=0.06)
- fell (just) short of significance (p=0.08)
- fell barely short of significance (p=0.08)
- fell just short of significance (p=0.07)
- fell just short of statistical significance (p=0.12)
- fell just short of the traditional definition of statistical significance (p=0.051)
- fell marginally short of significance (p=0.07)
- fell narrowly short of significance (p=0.0623)
- fell only marginally short of significance (p=0.0879)
- fell only short of significance (p=0.06)
- fell short of significance (p=0.07)
- fell slightly short of significance (p>0.0167)
- fell somewhat short of significance (p=0.138)
- felt short of significance (p=0.07)
- flirting with conventional levels of significance (p>0.1)
- heading towards significance (p=0.086)
- highly significant (p=0.09)
- hint of significance (p>0.05)
- hovered around significance (p = 0.061)
- hovered at nearly a significant level (p=0.058)
- hovering closer to statistical significance (p=0.076)
- hovers on the brink of significance (p=0.055)
- in the edge of significance (p=0.059)
- in the verge of significance (p=0.06)
- inconclusively significant (p=0.070)
- indeterminate significance (p=0.08)
- indicative significance (p=0.08)
- is just outside the conventional levels of significance
- just about significant (p=0.051)
- just above the arbitrary level of significance (p=0.07)
- just above the margin of significance (p=0.053)
- just at the conventional level of significance (p=0.05001)
- just barely below the level of significance (p=0.06)
- just barely failed to reach significance (p=0.1)
- marginally significant tendency (p=0.08)
- marginally statistically significant (p=0.08)
- may not be significant (p=0.06)
- medium level of significance (p=0.051)
- mildly significant (p=0.07)
- missed narrowly statistical significance (p=0.054)
- moderately significant (p>0.11)
- modestly significant (p=0.09)
- narrowly avoided significance (p=0.052)
- narrowly eluded statistical significance (p=0.0789)
- narrowly escaped significance (p=0.08)
- narrowly evaded statistical significance (p>0.05)
- narrowly failed significance (p=0.054)
- narrowly missed achieving significance (p=0.055)
- narrowly missed overall significance (p=0.06)
- narrowly missed significance (p=0.051)
- narrowly missed standard significance levels (p0.1)
- near nominal significance (p=0.064)
- near significance (p=0.07)
- near to statistical significance (p=0.056)
- near/possible significance(p=0.0661)
- near-borderline significance (p=0.10)
- near-certain significance (p=0.07)
- nearing significance (p0.06)
- near-marginal significance (p=0.18)
- near-significant (p=0.09)
- near-to-significance (p=0.093)
- near-trend significance (p=0.11)
- nominally significant (p=0.08)
- non-insignificant result (p=0.500)
- non-significant in the statistical sense (p>0.05
- not absolutely significant but very probably so (p>0.05)
- not as significant (p=0.06)
- not clearly significant (p=0.08)
- not completely significant (p=0.07)
- not completely statistically significant (p=0.0811)
- not conventionally significant (p=0.089), but..
- not currently significant (p=0.06)
- not decisively significant (p=0.106)
- not entirely significant (p=0.10)
- not especially significant (p>0.05)
- not exactly significant (p=0.052)
- not extremely significant (p0.20)
- not non-significant (p>0.1)
- not numerically significant (p>0.05)
- not obviously significant (p>0.3)
- not overly significant (p>0.08)
- not quite borderline significance (p>=0.089)
- not quite reach the level of significance (p=0.07)
- not quite significant (p=0.118)
- not quite within the conventional bounds of statistical significance (p=0.12)
- not reliably significant (p=0.091)
- not remarkably significant (p=0.236)
- not significant by common standards (p=0.099)
- not significant by conventional standards (p=0.10)
- not significant by traditional standards (p0.1)
- not yet significant (p=0.09)
- not strongly significant (p=0.08)
- noticeably significant (p=0.055)
- on the border of significance (p=0.063)
- on the borderline of significance (p=0.0699)
- on the borderlines of significance (p=0.08)
- on the boundaries of significance (p=0.056)
- on the boundary of significance (p=0.055)
- on the brink of significance (p=0.052)
- on the cusp of conventional statistical significance (p=0.054)
- on the cusp of significance (p=0.058)
- on the edge of significance (p>0.08)
- on the limit to significant (p=0.06)
- on the margin of significance (p=0.051)
- on the threshold of significance (p=0.059)
- on the verge of significance (p=0.053)
- on the very borderline of significance (0.05p>0.05)
- only a little short of significance (p>0.05)
- only just failed to meet statistical significance (p=0.051)
- only just insignificant (p>0.10)
- only just missed significance at the 5% level
- only marginally fails to be significant at the 95% level (p=0.06)
- only marginally nearly insignificant (p=0.059)
- only marginally significant (p=0.9)
- only slightly less than significant (p=0.08)
- only slightly missed the conventional threshold of significance (p=0.062)
- only slightly missed the level of significance (p=0.058)
- only slightly missed the significance level (p=0·0556)
- only slightly non-significant (p=0.0738)
- only slightly significant (p=0.08)
- partial significance (p>0.09)
- partially significant (p=0.08)
- partly significant (p=0.08)
- perceivable statistical significance (p=0.0501)
- possible significance (p0.10)
- possibly statistically significant (p=0.10)
- potentially significant (p>0.1)
- practically significant (p=0.06)
- probably not experimentally significant (p=0.2)
- probably not significant (p>0.25)
- probably not statistically significant (p=0.14)
- probably significant (p=0.06)
- provisionally significant (p=0.073)
- quasi-significant (p=0.09)
- questionably significant (p=0.13)
- quite close to significance at the 10% level (p=0.104)
- quite significant (p=0.07)
- rather marginal significance (p>0.10)
- reached borderline significance (p=0.0509)
- reached near significance (p=0.07)
- reasonably significant (p=0.07)
- remarkably close to significance (p=0.05009)
- resides on the edge of significance (p=0.10)
- roughly significant (p>0.1)
- scarcely significant (0.050.1)
- significant at the .07 level
- significant tendency (p=0.09)
- significant to some degree (01)
- significant, or close to significant effects (p=0.08, p=0.05)
- significantly better overall (p=0.051)
- significantly significant (p=0.065)
- similar but not nonsignificant trends (p>0.05)
- slight evidence of significance (0.1>p>0.05)
- slight non-significance (p=0.06)
- slight significance (p=0.128)
- slight tendency toward significance (p=0.086)
- slightly above the level of significance (p=0.06)
- slightly below the level of significance (p=0.068)
- slightly exceeded significance level (p=0.06)
- slightly failed to reach statistical significance (p=0.061)
- slightly insignificant (p=0.07)
- slightly less than needed for significance (p=0.08)
- slightly marginally significant (p=0.06)
- slightly missed being of statistical significance (p=0.08)
- slightly missed statistical significance (p=0.059)
- slightly missed the conventional level of significance (p=0.061)
- slightly missed the level of statistical significance (p0.055)
- somewhat short of significance (p=0.07)
- somewhat significant (p=0.23)
- somewhat statistically significant (p=0.092)
- strong trend toward significance (p=0.08)
- sufficiently close to significance (p=0.07)
- suggestive but not quite significant (p=0.061)
- suggestive of a significant trend (p=0.08)
- suggestive of statistical significance (p=0.06)
- suggestively significant (p=0.064)
- tailed to insignificance (p=0.1)
- tantalisingly close to significance (p=0.104)
- technically not significant (p=0.06)
- teetering on the brink of significance (p=0.06)
- tend to significant (p>0.1)
- tended to approach significance (p=0.09)
- tended to be significant (p=0.06)
- tended toward significance (p=0.13)
- tendency toward significance (p approaching 0.1)
- tendency toward statistical significance (p=0.07)
- tends to approach significance (p=0.12)
- tentatively significant (p=0.107)
- too far from significance (p=0.12)
- trend bordering on statistical significance (p=0.066)
- trend in a significant direction (p=0.09)
- trend in the direction of significance (p=0.089)
- trend significance level (p=0.06)
- trend toward (p>0.07)
- trending towards significance (p>0.15)
- trending towards significant (p=0.099)
- uncertain significance (p>0.07)
- vaguely significant (p>0.2)
- verged on being significant (p=0.11)
- verging on significance (p=0.056)
- verging on the statistically significant (p0.10)
- weakened..significance (p=0.06)
- weakly non-significant (p=0.07)
- weakly significant (p=0.11)
- weakly statistically significant (p=0.0557)
- well-nigh significant (p=0.11)


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