Misuse of Statistical Tests in Three Decades of Psychotherapy Research

Reuven Dar*, Ronald C. Serlin, Haim Omer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

129 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reviews the misuse of statistical tests in psychotherapy research studies published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in the years 1967-1968, 1977-1978, and 1987-1988. It focuses on 3 major problems in statistical practice: inappropriate uses of null hypothesis tests and p values, neglect of effect size, and inflation of Type I error rate. The impressive frequency of these problems is documented, and changes in statistical practices over the past 3 decades are interpreted in light of trends in psychotherapy research. The article concludes with practical suggestions for rational application of statistical tests.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-82
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Volume62
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1994

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