Focused Tests of Significance and Effect Size Estimation in Counseling Pyschology

Abstract

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to present the strategic advantages of focused over omnibus tests of statistical significance in counseling research and, second, to demonstrate the utility of interpreting the magnitude of the effect as a way of assessing practical significance (i.c., in addition to computing p levels). Simple procedures are given for computing effect size using the product-moment r in the context of focused significance testing. We show that recasting the effect size into a binomial display is a convenient way of revealing the practical significance of r in terms of whatever equivalency measure is deemed appropriate (e.g., improvement rate, success rate, survival rate).