Conflating relevance with practical significance and other issues: Commentary on Sen, Smith, and Van Note’s “statistical significance versus practical importance in information systems research”

Authors

Kaveh Mohajeri, IESEG School of Management, Lille, France
Mostafa Mesgari, College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Allen S Lee, School of Business, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

Document Type

Other

Abstract

Expanding on the current debate on the issues of statistical and practical significance in information systems research, where the article by Sen, Smith, and Van Note is a recent contribution, this commentary cautions against conflating relevance with practical significance. We emphasize that relevance is 1) about the real-world usefulness of research findings rather than their impressiveness for the researcher audience, 2) an essential quality of research spanning beyond its findings and not merely limited to statistical studies, and 3) determined by nonacademics rather than academics. We also comment on other aspects of the article by Sen et al., such as the term “practical importance,” the treatment of effect size measures, and the presentation of “marginal effects.”

DOI

10.1177/02683962221087449

Recommended Citation

Mohajeri, Kaveh; Mesgari, Mostafa; and Lee, Allen S (2022) "Conflating relevance with practical significance and other issues: Commentary on Sen, Smith, and Van Note’s “statistical significance versus practical importance in information systems research”," Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 37: Iss. 3, Article 6.
DOI: 10.1177/02683962221087449
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jit/vol37/iss3/6