The American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual sets the editorial standards for over 1000 journals in the behavioural, life and social sciences. Well known for its referencing standards, the Manual is also an authoritative source of statistical advice for many journals. It is therefore crucial that statistics education in these disciplines address its requirements and recommendations. The sixth edition of the Manual (published 2010) includes new guidelines about reporting effect sizes, confidence intervals and meta-analysis. These changes are a response to calls for the statistical reform of psychology—in particular, calls to decrease reliance on Null Hypothesis Significance Testing—which have been made with increasing vigor over the last 60 years. This paper critically reviews the new guidelines and discusses the implications for statistics teaching within psychology and other disciplines.
(Tuesday 13th, 16:30-18:00)
Fiona Fidler (Australia)