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Applications: Equivalence Tests Can Enhance Environmental Science and Management
Author(s) -
McBride Graham B.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.434
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-842X
pISSN - 1369-1473
DOI - 10.1111/1467-842x.00058
Subject(s) - mathematics , equivalence (formal languages) , econometrics , sample (material) , bayesian probability , statistics , precautionary principle , statistical hypothesis testing , observational study , ecology , discrete mathematics , chemistry , chromatography , biology
Tests of point hypotheses are common in observational environmental studies, but there is concern about their appropriateness. Exhortations to restrict sample sizes on the basis of a power analysis for such tests may fail to satisfy the environmental professional, because sample sizes are not always easily controlled. Testing of interval hypotheses via equiva‐lence test procedures offers a way of testing meaningful hypotheses and of giving effect to the precautionary principle. An example is given which concerns mining impacts on stream benthic invertebrate communities, and includes calculation of Bayesian posterior probabilities.