What does a psychologist usually mean when she says a specific experimental result is 'significant'?
A) The result reflects a large difference between the mean scores of one participant group and the mean scores of another.
B) The result is important in a practical sense.
C) The result will allow psychologists to support one theory over alternative theories.
D) The result is unlikely to have occurred solely because of chance.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When a psychologist says that an experimental result is "significant," they typically mean that the result is unlikely to be due to chance alone. In other words, there is a low probability that the observed outcome would occur if there were no true effect or relationship in the population from which the sample was drawn. This is often indicated by a p-value that is less than a predetermined level of significance (e.g., p < .05). While the other choices may be important factors in interpreting research findings, they do not capture the specific meaning of "significance" in this context.

What Does a Psychologist Usually Mean When She Says a Specific