P-value
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 In statistical significance testing, the probability of obtaining a test statistic at least as extreme as the one that was actually observed, assuming that the null hypothesis is true.
"The larger the p-value the smaller the chance of a difference. A p-value of 1.00 means 0 % chance of a difference, while a p-value of 0.95 means a chance of difference close to 0. A p-value of > 0.95 literally means that we have > 95 per cent chance of finding a result less close to expectation, which means a chance of < (1-0.95) , i.e., < 0.05 of finding a result this close or closer. Using the traditional 5 per cent decision level, this would mean, that we have a strong argument that such […]"
Example
More examples"The larger the p-value the smaller the chance of a difference. A p-value of 1.00 means 0 % chance of a difference, while a p-value of 0.95 means a chance of difference close to 0. A p-value of > 0.95 literally means that we have > 95 per cent chance of finding a result less close to expectation, which means a chance of < (1-0.95) , i.e., < 0.05 of finding a result this close or closer. Using the traditional 5 per cent decision level, this would mean, that we have a strong argument that such […]"
Etymology
Short for probability value.
Related phrases
More for "p-value"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.