Changes

Statisticians use the concept of ''P Value'' to discuss the how often a result might appear to be significant even when it’s not. While this crude measure doesn’t describe all the ways something might happen due to chance, generally the lower the P Value, the better. Professional scientists, especially those who understand statistics, will get touchy if you claim a result based purely on P Values, but for Personal Science purposes, it’s a good start. There is no “correct” cutoff value that can determine the likelihood that something is due to chance alone, but traditionally people assume that anything under 0.05 deserves a closer look.

Statisticians use the concept of ''P Value'' to discuss the how often a result might appear to be significant even when it’s not. While this crude measure doesn’t describe all the ways something might happen due to chance, generally the lower the P Value, the better. Professional scientists, especially those who understand statistics, will get touchy if you claim a result based purely on P Values, but for Personal Science purposes, it’s a good start. There is no “correct” cutoff value that can determine the likelihood that something is due to chance alone, but traditionally people assume that anything under 0.05 deserves a closer look.

Here’s an example for how to do this in Excel.

Here’s an example for how to do this in [[Excel]].

Suppose you’d like to know if taking a melotonin supplement will help you sleep longer. You’ve measured your daily sleep, taking the supplements on some days (the “intervention”) and not on others (“control”).

Suppose you’d like to know if taking a melotonin supplement will help you sleep longer. You’ve measured your daily sleep, taking the supplements on some days (the “intervention”) and not on others (“control”).