The continuing misuse of null hypothesis significance testing in biological anthropology

Smith, Richard J.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23399

Cited by 52 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Recent criticisms of null hypothesis statistical tests (NHST) point out that null hypothesis testing is misused in the sciences, including biological anthropology (Ferguson, ; Smith, ). Critics argue that measures of effects and effect confidence intervals (CIs) are neglected statistical indicators of relationships that are superior to p ‐values because the latter are affected by sample size.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dental microwear texture analysis ofHomo sapienssapiens: Foragers, farmers, and pastoralists

Schmidt

Remy

Sessen

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives The current study seeks to determine if a sample of foragers, farmers, and pastoralists are distinguishable based on their dental microwear texture signatures. Materials and methods The study included a sample of 719 individuals from 51 archeological sites (450 farmers, 192 foragers, 77 pastoralists). All were over age 12 and sexes were pooled. Using a Sensofar® white‐light confocal profiler we collected dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) data from a single first or second molar from each individual. We leveled and cleaned data clouds following standard procedures and analyzed the data with Sfrax® and Toothfrax® software. The DMTA variables were complexity and anisotropy. Statistics included ANOVA with partial eta squared and Hedges's g. We also performed a follow‐up K‐means cluster analysis. Results We found significant differences between foragers and farmers and pastoralists for complexity and anisotropy, with foragers having greater complexity than either the farmers or the pastoralists. The farmers and pastoralists had greater anisotropy than the foragers. The Old World foragers had significantly higher anisotropy values than New World foragers. Old and New World farmers did not differ. Among the Old World farmers, those dating from the Neolithic through the Late Bronze Age had higher complexity values than those from the Iron Age through the medieval period. The cluster analysis discerned foragers and farmers but also indicated similarity between hard food foragers and hard food farmers. Discussion Our findings reaffirm that DMTA is capable of distinguishing human diets. We found that foragers and farmers, in particular, differ in their microwear signatures across the globe. There are some exceptions, but nothing that would be unexpected given the range of human diets and food preparation techniques. This study indicates that in general DMTA is an efficacious means of paleodietary reconstruction in humans.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because null hypothesis significance tests (NHST) are considered by some to be insufficient indicators of the relationships of variables (Rosnow & Rosenthal, ; Smith, ) we also include 95% confidence intervals and effect sizes in our results. This aspect of the study is described in more detail below.…”

Section: Research Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental microwear texture analysis ofHomo sapienssapiens: Foragers, farmers, and pastoralists

Schmidt

Remy

Sessen

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…There is currently discussions regarding moving away from the use of the p ≤ 0.05 approach (American Statistical Association 2016), we would recommend that if p-values are presented, they should always be the full, unadjusted p-value and should be accompanied by effect sizes or confidence intervals. Effect sizes or confidence intervals provide greater details regarding hypothesis testing compared to p-values (Smith 2018) and will enhance replication, as studies evaluating small effects in the wake of considerable noise are likely false positives (Gelman 2018), considering a system rewarded by positive findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Bonferroni revisited: concerns over inflated false positive research findings in the fields of conservation genetics, biology, and medicine

2019

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In 2006, Narum published a paper in Conservation Genetics emphasizing that Bonferroni correction for multiple testing can be highly conservative with poor statistical power (high Type II error). He pointed out that other approaches for multiple testing correction can control the false discovery rate (FDR) with a better balance of Type I and Type II errors and suggested that the approach of Benjamini and Yekutieli (BY) 2001 provides the most biologically relevant correction for evaluating the significance of population differentiation in conservation genetics. However, there are crucial differences between the original Benjamini and Yekutieli procedure and that described by Narum. After carefully reviewing both papers, we found an error due to the incorrect implementation of the BY procedure in Narum (Conserv Genet 7:783-787, 2006) such that the approach does not adequately control FDR. Since the incorrect BY approach has been increasingly used, not only in conservation genetics, but also in medicine and biology, it is important that the error is made known to the scientific community. In addition, we provide an overview of FDR approaches for multiple testing correction and encourage authors first and foremost to provide effect sizes for their results; and second, to be transparent in their descriptions of multiple testing correction. Finally, the impact of this error on conservation genetics and other fields will be study-dependent, as it is related to the number of true to false positives for each study.

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“…Given the numerous empirical and logical problems associated with conventional null hypothesis testing based on significance levels (e.g., Amrhein, Greenland, & Mcshane, 2019; Halsey, 2019; Smith, 2018), we supplement the above analyses with a Bayesian hypothesis testing approach (Bayesian linear regression). Bayes factors are used to quantify the relative levels of evidence in the collected data for the null and alternative hypotheses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzee ranging responses to fruit availability in a high‐elevation environment

Green

Boruff

Niyigaba

et al. 2020

American J Primatol

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Most primates experience seasonal fluctuations in the availability of food resources and face the challenge of balancing energy expenditure with energy gain during periods of resource scarcity. This is likely to be particularly challenging in rugged, montane environments, where available energy is relatively low and travel costs are high. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show extensive behavioral diversity across study sites. Yet, as most research has focused on low-and mid-elevation sites, little is known on how chimpanzees respond to periods of low fruit availability in harsh montane environments. We use focal follow and phenology data to investigate how fruit availability influences daily path length and monthly home range in chimpanzees living in Nyungwe National Park, a montane forest in Rwanda. Nyungwe chimpanzees decreased their daily travel distances during periods of fruit scarcity. However, this decrease in travel effort did not correspond with a decrease in foraging area. Instead, monthly homes ranges shifted location across the study period. Nyungwe chimpanzees occupy a relatively wide altitudinal range and the shifts in monthly home range location may reflect differences in the altitudinal distribution of food resources.Chimpanzee monthly diet was often dominated by one or two species and each of these species were confined to different elevation zones. One important species, Podocarpus latifolius, grew only at high elevations (2,600-2,950 m) and chimpanzees ranged at the altitudinal peak of their range for 2 consecutive months while feeding on this species. Thus, while high elevations are often thought to be harsh environments for primates, they can be an important part of a species' home range when they provide a refugium for densely distributed, important food species. K E Y W O R D S3D home range, chimpanzee, ecological constraints, montane forest, path length, seasonality

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The continuing misuse of null hypothesis significance testing in biological anthropology

Cited by 52 publications

References 99 publications

Dental microwear texture analysis ofHomo sapienssapiens: Foragers, farmers, and pastoralists

Dental microwear texture analysis ofHomo sapienssapiens: Foragers, farmers, and pastoralists

Beyond Bonferroni revisited: concerns over inflated false positive research findings in the fields of conservation genetics, biology, and medicine

Chimpanzee ranging responses to fruit availability in a high‐elevation environment

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