Abstract

Recently, Jennions and Møller (2003) carried out a meta analysis on statistical power in the field of behavioral ecology and animal behavior, reviewing 10 leading journals including Behavioral Ecology. Their results showed dismayingly low average statistical power. The statistical power of a null hypothesis significance test is the probability that the test will reject when a research hypothesis is true. The meta-analysis on statistical power by the authors revealed that, in the field of behavioral ecology and animal behavior, statistical power of less than 20% to detect a small effect and power of less than 50% to detect a medium effect existed. Here, I highlight and discuss an implication of this low statistical power on one of the most widely used statistical procedures, Bonferroni correction.