Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Chan-Seung Lee]

[asterix]

It means, People were much more likely to help when the day was sunny and when the temperature was comfortable.'

[myprofe]

The sentence should be: People were significantly more likely to....
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[CP]

Myprofe is right. It must be "significantly more likely" in the original.

The term comes from statistics. No doubt the article recounts an experiment or a naturalistic observational study where people walking by were given an opportunity to help someone out -- picking up some dropped books or groceries, for example. The researchers measured the temperature and degree of sunshine, the sex and age of the person dropping the goods and that of the person being observed, the time of day, the level of crowdedness, or what not.

After making many observations (giving many people the chance to help or walk on by), the researchers "crunched the data" by performing statistical tests to find out what were the best predictors of helping behavior. Nice weather makes for more helpfulness, it appears.

Statistical significance does not mean importance; it means that the result was unlikely to have resulted by chance, so we have some level of confidence that the finding is really the result of the variables or factors that seem to be causing the effect. Usually, if the p-level (probability level) is not p < .05 (probability of a chance result less than .05 or 1 in 20), it will not be considered significant.

Next time you have a flat tire and it is raining, don't expect much help from strangers. Wait until it is nice out to have your car trouble.
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