If a study reports a p-value greater than 0.05, what does this indicate?

If a study reports a p-value greater than 0.05, what does this indicate?

• A. The result is statistically significant.
• B. The result is not statistically significant.
• C. The study has high statistical power.
• D. The confidence interval is narrow.

Answer: (B)

P-values gauge how compatible the observed data are with the null hypothesis. If the p-value is greater than 0.05, we do not have enough evidence to reject the null at the conventional 5% significance level, so the result is not statistically significant. This means the data don’t show a statistically reliable effect at that threshold, not that there is definitely no effect. It could reflect limited sample size or variability rather than a true absence of an effect. It’s also not a direct measure of study power or of how precise the estimate is; a high p-value doesn’t guarantee high power or a narrow confidence interval.

P-values gauge how compatible the observed data are with the null hypothesis. If the p-value is greater than 0.05, we do not have enough evidence to reject the null at the conventional 5% significance level, so the result is not statistically significant. This means the data don’t show a statistically reliable effect at that threshold, not that there is definitely no effect. It could reflect limited sample size or variability rather than a true absence of an effect. It’s also not a direct measure of study power or of how precise the estimate is; a high p-value doesn’t guarantee high power or a narrow confidence interval.