Las pruebas de significación estadística: seis décadas de fuegos artificiales

Luis C. Silva Aycaguer

doi:10.17533/udea.rfnsp.v34n3a11

Autores/as

Luis C. Silva Aycaguer Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.rfnsp.v34n3a11

Palabras clave:

inferencia estadística, prueba de significación estadística, intervalo de confianza, tamaño muestral, valores p

Resumen

Tras varios decenios de críticas a las técnicas inferenciales basadas en las pruebas de significación estadística orientadas al rechazo de la llamada hipótesis nula y, a pesar del notable consenso alcanzado entre los estadísticos profesionales, este recurso se mantiene vigente tanto en las publicaciones biomédicas, entre ellas las de Salud Pública, como en cursos introductorios de estadística. Entre las muchas deficiencias señaladas por los más prominentes especialistas se destacan tres por ser las más obvias y fáciles de comprender: que no contribuyen a cumplimentar la encomienda de la ciencia, que se conocen de antemano las respuestas a las preguntas que se encaran por su conducto y que los resultados que producen dependen de un elemento ajeno a la realidad estudiada: el tamaño muestral. El artículo discute en detalle tales limitaciones, ilustra su perniciosa presencia en la investigación actual y valora las razones para la subsistencia de la sinrazón en esta materia.

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Biografía del autor/a

Luis C. Silva Aycaguer, Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública

Doctorado en Ciencias de la Salud, Licenciado en Matemáticas. Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública, La Habana, Cuba.

Citas

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