Suggestions for Presenting the Results of Data Analysis

Authors

David R. Anderson, Colorado State UniversitFollow
William A. Link, Patuxent Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Douglas H. Johnson, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Kenneth P. Burnham, Colorado State University, Fort CollinsFollow

Date of this Version

2001

Comments

Published in The Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 65, No. 3 (July 2001), pp. 373-378.

Abstract

We give suggestions for the presentation of research results from frequentist, information-theoretic, and Bayesian analysis paradigms, followed by several general suggestions. The information-theoretic and Bayesian methods offer alternative approaches to data analysis and inference compared to traditionally used methods. Guidance is lacking on the presentation of results under these alternative procedures and on nontesting aspects of classical frequentist methods of statistical analysis. Null hypothesis testing has come under intense criticism. We recommend less reporting of the results of statistical tests of null hypotheses in cases where the null is surely false anyway, or where the null hypothesis is of little interest to science or management.