A guide for authors and readers of the American Society for Nutrition Journals on the proper use of P values and strategies that promote transparency and improve research reproducibility

Two questions regarding the scientific literature have become grist for public discussion: 1) what place should P values have in reporting the results of studies? 2) How should the perceived difficulty in replicating the results reported in published studies be addressed? We consider these questions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of clinical nutrition 2021-10, Vol.114 (4), p.1280-1285
Main Authors: Sorkin, John D, Manary, Mark, Smeets, Paul AM, MacFarlane, Amanda J, Astrup, Arne, Prigeon, Ronald L, Hogans, Beth B, Odle, Jack, Davis, Teresa A, Tucker, Katherine L, Duggan, Christopher P, Tobias, Deirdre K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disclosure
Editor's Choice
Editorial Policies
Humans
Nutrition
Nutrition research
Nutritional Sciences
P value
Periodicals as Topic
Publishing - standards
Questions
reliability
Reproducibility
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design - statistics & numerical data
Special
strategies
Transparency
United States
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Summary:Two questions regarding the scientific literature have become grist for public discussion: 1) what place should P values have in reporting the results of studies? 2) How should the perceived difficulty in replicating the results reported in published studies be addressed? We consider these questions to be 2 sides of the same coin; failing to address them can lead to an incomplete or incorrect message being sent to the reader. If P values (which are derived from the estimate of the effect size and a measure of the precision of the estimate of the effect) are used improperly, for example reporting only significant findings, or reporting P values without account for multiple comparisons, or failing to indicate the number of tests performed, the scientific record can be biased. Moreover, if there is a lack of transparency in the conduct of a study and reporting of study results, it will not be possible to repeat a study in a manner that allows inferences from the original study to be reproduced or to design and conduct a different experiment whose aim is to confirm the original study’s findings. The goal of this article is to discuss how P values can be used in a manner that is consistent with the scientific method, and to increase transparency and reproducibility in the conduct and analysis of nutrition research. ▪
ISSN:0002-9165
1938-3207
DOI:10.1093/ajcn/nqab223