Nerd Alert: The Statistical Significance Trap

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We're breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.

In this episode, Elena and Rob examine why treating statistical significance as proof can mislead marketers. They reveal how relying on a single P-value creates blind spots and why smart decisions require looking at the full picture of evidence.

Topics covered:

• [01:00] "Statistical Significance and Statistical Reporting, Moving Beyond Binary"
• [02:00] What statistical significance actually means
• [04:00] When significant results don't matter for business
• [05:00] Building a toolkit approach beyond P-values
• [06:00] Practical importance versus statistical significance
• [08:00] Avoiding single-test tunnel vision

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:
McShane, B. B., Bradlow, E. T., Lynch, J. G., Jr., & Meyer, R. J. (2024). “Statistical Significance” and statistical reporting: Moving beyond binary. Journal of Marketing, 88(1), 1–20.


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