statistic

Defending the null hypothesis

A friend was working on a paper and found himself in the situation of having to defend the null hypothesis that a particular effect is absent (or not measurable) when tested under more controlled conditions than those used in previous studies. He asked for some practical advice: “what would convince you as as a reviewer of a null result?” No statistical test can “prove” a null results (intended as the point-null hypothesis that an effect of interest is zero).