Statistical Measures, Hypotheses, and Tests in Applied Research

Abstract

This article reviews and discusses the use of statistical concepts in a natural resources and life sciences journal on the basis of a census of the articles published in a recent issue of the Agronomy Journal and presents a flow chart and a graph that display the inter‐relationships between the most commonly used statistical terms. It also discusses the use of contrasts between treatment means for testing ideas that the experimental work is designed to test, and points out that the use of a multiple comparison procedure is appropriate only when such ideas are absent or very vague. In the latter case, use of the unrestricted least significant difference procedure is recommended, with the proviso that it be used as an hypothesis generating method, not a method for simultaneous formulation and testing of hypotheses.