STILL AGAINST INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: REJOINDER TO NICHOLSON AND RIDGWAY

Abstract

In their response to our paper, Nicholson and Ridgway agree with the majority of what we wrote. They echo our concerns about the misuse of inferential statistics and NHST in particular. Very little of their response explicitly challenges the points we made but where it does their defence of the use of inferential techniques does not stand up to scrutiny. Their statements are either contradictory, agreement ‘dressed up’ as disagreement, appeals to authority, semantic slights of hand, or irrelevant to our original claims. It is not clear why such a response was needed.

First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives