SAGE Journal Articles

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(19.1). This article has some important recommendations for how to present inferential results in quantitative research.

Journal Article 1: Thompson, B. (2002). What future quantitative social science research could look like: Confidence intervals for effect sizes. Educational Researcher, 31, 25–32.

Abstract: An improved quantitative science would emphasize the use of confidence intervals (CIs), and especially CIs for effect sizes. This article reviews some definitions and issues related to developing these intervals. Confidence intervals for effect sizes are especially valuable because they facilitate meta-analytic thinking and the interpretation of intervals via comparison with the effect intervals from related prior studies. Several recommendations for the thoughtful use of such CIs are presented.

(19.2). This includes some discussion of APA recommendations for the reporting of quantitative findings.

Journal Article 2: Fidler, F. (2002). The fifth edition of the APA publication manual: Why its statistics recommendations are so controversial. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62, 749–770.

Abstract: The fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) draws on recommendations for improving statistical practices made by the APA Task Force on Statistical Inference (TFSI). The manual now acknowledges the controversy over null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and includes both a stronger recommendation to report effect sizes and a new recommendation to report confidence intervals. Drawing on interviews with some critics and other interested parties, the present review identifies a number of deficiencies in the new manual. These include lack of follow-through with appropriate explanations and examples of how to report statistics that are now recommended. At this stage, the discipline would be well served by a response to these criticisms and a debate over needed modifications.