Arguing for a Negligible Effect

2014/03/07 by Carlisle Rainey · 1 voice · 15 citations
Social Sciences · Mathematics · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research #Advanced Causal Inference Techniques

paper · doi:10.1111/ajps.12102

Abstract

Political scientists often theorize that an explanatory variable should have “no effect” and support this claim by demonstrating that its coefficient's estimate is not statistically significant. This empirical argument is quite weak, but I introduce applied researchers to simple, powerful tools that can strengthen their arguments for this hypothesis. With several supporting examples, I illustrate that researchers can use 90% confidence intervals to argue against meaningful effects and provide persuasive evidence for their hypothesis.

Citations

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• Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
• Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation

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Discussions

• @carlislerainey.bsky.social Rainey, Carlisle. "Arguing for a negligible effect." American Journal of Political Science 58, no. 4 (2014): 1083-1091. doi.org/10.1111/ajps... [bsky, 6 points, 1 comments]

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