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Editor's Note| Volume 172, ISSUE 4, P1039-1040, October 2022

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Why say “statistically significant” rather than just “significant”? a plea to rid the medical literature of linguistic ambiguity

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2022.08.019
Why say “statistically significant” rather than just “significant”? a plea to rid the medical literature of linguistic ambiguity
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      As scientists and academics, we teach, conduct research and write scientific research papers [
      • Rosengart T.K.
      • Mason M.C.
      • LeMaire S.A.
      • Brandt M.L.
      • Coselli J.S.
      • Curley S.A.
      • Mattox K.L.
      • Mills J.L.
      • Sugarbaker D.J.
      • Berger D.A.
      The seven attributes of the academic surgeon: Critical aspects of the archetype and contributions to the surgical community.
      Am J Surg. 2017; 214: 165-179
      ]. Whenever we try to determine whether an outcome, an exposure, or a difference between two or more variables, is meaningful, we perform a statistical test to determine the probability of our finding being due just to chance, or, of our finding having the property of being “statistically significant”, using the “p value”, or some alternative such as confidence, credibility, or prediction intervals.
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      References

        • Rosengart T.K.
        • Mason M.C.
        • LeMaire S.A.
        • Brandt M.L.
        • Coselli J.S.
        • Curley S.A.
        • Mattox K.L.
        • Mills J.L.
        • Sugarbaker D.J.
        • Berger D.A.
        The seven attributes of the academic surgeon: Critical aspects of the archetype and contributions to the surgical community.
        Am J Surg. 2017; 214: 165-179
        View in Article
        • Shafer G.
        On the nineteenth-century origins of significance testing and p-hacking, First posted July 18, 2019. Last revised June 11, 2020.
        (Project web site:)
        http://www.probabilityandfinance.com
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        • Salsburg D.
        The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century. New York, NY.
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        Glick M From tea tasting to t test: a P value ain’t what you think it is.
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      Article info

      Footnotes

      This editorial is the fruit of reflections and comments made during the Webinar on Peer Review sponsored by the journal Surgery June 28, 2020 available online https://elsevier.zoom.us/rec/share/qlxM13AwjPKlofc4sUf4-Ed983rOKT8BtDxKhNOfhMGWjZCDQb9mlV2ZMDy8R7GU.OsSpGDve2d7VotPF?startTime=1656425313000

      Passcode: 6LSC%H4F

      Members of the Faculty of the Webinar (by alphabetical order)

      Alberto Arezzo MD PhD Editor of the Journal Minimally Invasive Therapy and Allied Technologies (MITAT) Associate Editor of the Journal Techniques in Coloproctology (TCOL)

      Leo Buhler MD Editor in Chief of Xenotransplantation

      Abe Fingerhut MD Co-editor in Chief of Annals of Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Surgery

      Nader K Francis FRCS, FEBS, PhD Education and Training Subject Editor of Surgical Endoscopy

      Susan Galandiuk MD, Editor-In-Chief, Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

      Wolfram Trudo Knoefel MD, Member of Editorial Board of Surgery

      Paulina Salminen, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Scandinavian Journal of Surgery

      Lee Swanstrom MD, Editor-in-chief of Surgical Innovation

      Des Winter MD, Editor-in-chief of British Journal of Surgery (BJS)

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2022.08.019

      Copyright

      © 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.

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