Big Things Have Small Beginnings: An Assortment of “Minor” Methodological Misunderstandings

Abstract

Most statistical/methodological topics seem to have certain components that are poorly understood by many researchers. The purpose of this paper was to discuss some of the problem areas in significance testing, meta-analysis, multiple regression, factor analysis, structural equations modeling, validity, and outliers. These topics were chosen because they have generated a variety of problems for researchers, and because these problems have come to my attention through reviews of journal submissions, discussions with colleagues, and my own reading of the published literature.