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Replies to #27407 on Biotech Values
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gofishmarko

04/20/06 3:57 PM

#27408 RE: poorgradstudent #27407

Re: subgroup analysis

>>> If K independent tests are conducted, one way to ensure that the overall chances of a false positive result are no greater than 5 percent (0.05) is for each test to use a criterion of (1–0.95)1/K, or about 0.05÷K, to assess statistical significance. <<<

Thanks for that, PGS. I've always wondered if there was some rule of thumb to interpret subgroup significance in trials and published research , and the one above is simple enough even for me !

It's common to see publications of data where 30 or 40 different measures are examined and a few are labelled "p<.05" , even though it's clear that some of those would be expected due to chance alone.