significances

Significances is the plural of significance and appears in several disciplines with related but distinct meanings. In everyday language, significance denotes importance, consequence, or meaning. In technical contexts, it can refer to a measure of whether an observed effect reflects a real phenomenon rather than random variation.

In statistics, significance indicates that an observed result is unlikely under a null hypothesis. It is assessed with a p-value, the probability of obtaining a result at least as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis is true. A preassigned significance level, alpha (commonly 0.05), determines whether results are deemed statistically significant. Reporting also includes effect size and confidence intervals to convey practical relevance.

Statistical significance does not imply practical importance. A result can be statistically significant yet have a small effect size, or be clinically meaningful despite not meeting conventional thresholds. The interpretation depends on context, sample size, and study design. Issues such as multiple testing and p-hacking can inflate apparent significance.

Beyond statistics, significance refers to the importance or impact of events, ideas, or artifacts. In history, a discovery or action is judged significant by its influence on later developments. In linguistics and semiotics, signification concerns the relationship between signs and their meanings.

Contemporary practice emphasizes transparent reporting of both significance and practical relevance, with emphasis on preregistration, replication, and robust methods to avoid biased conclusions.