Is N-Hacking Ever OK? The consequences of collecting more data in pursuit of statistical significance.

PLoS Biol · 2023 · PMC10619921 · PMID 37910647

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nearly significantno p-value reported

In other words, adding a few more observations to shore up a nearly significant result can increase the reproducibility of results.

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not quite significantno p-value reported

Abstract Upon completion of an experiment, if a trend is observed that is “not quite significant,” it can be tempting to collect more data in an effort to achieve statistical significance.

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