Your Right To Be Liberal Or Conservative

As I pointed out near the outset of this chapter, the various post hoc procedures differ in terms of how liberal or conservative they are. Ideally, a researcher ought to choose among these procedures after considering the way they differ in terms of power and control of Type I errors. Realistically, however, the decision to use a particular test procedure is probably influenced most by what computer programs are available for doing the data analysis or by what procedure was emphasized in a specific textbook or by a specific instructor.

Regardless of the reasons why the researcher chooses to use a particular test procedure, you are in full control of how you interpret the results presented in the research report. If a researcher uses a test procedure that is too liberal or too conservative for your taste, remember that you have the undisputed right to accept only a portion of the researcher's full set of conclusions. Or, you may want to reject everything that is "discovered" in the research study because your position on the liberal/conservative continuum is quite different from that of the researcher who performed the data analysis.

(From Chapter 12, pp. 313)

Copyright © 2003 Schuyler W. Huck
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