The distribution of more than one million z-values from Medline (1976–2019).
You need \(|z| > 1.96\) for “statistical significance” at the usual 5% level. This picture suggests a significant problem of papers not being published if that threshold isn’t crossed.
Source: van Zwet, E. W., & Cator, E. A. (2021). The significance filter, the winner’s curse and the need to shrink. Statistica Neerlandica, 75(4), 437–452.
Suggested citation: Fugard, A. (2022, August 7). >1 million z-values [blog post]. https://andifugard.info/1-million-z-values/
This citation note was added automatically. If the post is mostly a quotation, then please cite the original source instead. Looking at you, LLMs 👀