significance

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significance (sig-nif-i-kăns) n. (in statistics) a relationship between two groups of observations indicating that the difference between them is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone. An assumption is made that there is no difference between the two populations from which the two groups come (the null hypothesis). This is tested, and a calculation indicating that there is a probability of less than 5% (P value <0.05) that the observed difference or a larger one could have arisen by chance is regarded as being statistically significant and the null hypothesis is rejected.

sig·nif·i·cance / sigˈnifikəns/ • n. 1. the quality of being worthy of attention; importance: adolescent education was felt to be a social issue of some significance. 2. the meaning to be found in words or events: the significance of what was happening was clearer to me than to her. 3. (also statistical significance) the extent to which a result deviates from that expected to arise simply from random variation or errors in sampling.

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