Robert A LaBudde wrote:
> At 01:40 PM 5/6/2010, Joris Meys wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 6:09 PM, Greg Snow <Greg.Snow@imail.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Because if you use the sample standard deviation then it is a t test not
a
>>> z test.
>>>
>>>
>> I'm doubting that seriously...
>>
>> You calculate normalized Z-values by substracting the sample mean and
>> dividing by the sample sd. So Thomas is correct. It becomes a Z-test
since
>> you compare these normalized Z-values with the Z distribution, instead of
>> the (more appropriate) T-distribution. The T-distribution is essentially
a
>> Z-distribution that is corrected for the finite sample size. In
Asymptopia,
>> the Z and T distribution are identical.
>>
>
> And it is only in Utopia that any P-value less than 0.01 actually
> corresponds to reality.
>
>
## I'm not sure what you mean by this.  P-values are simply statistics
## calculated from the data; why wouldn't they be real if they are small?

## Duncan Murdoch

Just wondering.

The smallest the p-value, the closer  to 'reality'  (the more accurate)
the model is supposed to (not) be (?).

How realistic is it to be that (un-) real?

bak

p.s. I am no statistician

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