Skip to main content

Statistical Significance

4 hours learning
Short Course
Intermediate
Register to Enroll

Section outline

  • Course Overview

    Social scientists often want to know if a finding is statistically significant, discuss the p-values or put confidence intervals around results. This course explains what these terms mean, how they are calculated, and how their origin lies in the way we use samples to measure and investigate people, organizations and societies. 

    Learning Outcomes

    This course will help you to:

    1. Define the factors involved in establishing statistical significance
    2. Recognize the importance of inference and how we gain information about populations from samples
    3. Define, interpret, and calculate normal distribution
    4. Establish the validity of sample estimates through calculating and interpreting the standard error
    5. Use confidence intervals to identify a range of samples that will include the population parameter under investigation
    6. Define and calculate the p-value in order to interpret the statistical significance of your null hypothesis
    7. Recognize and evaluate what the p-value can tell you about your research

    • Course Instructor: John MacInnes

      • John MacInnes

        John MacInnes is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Statistics at the University of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Chartered Statistician. He was Vice President of the Royal Statistical Society (2019-2020), Strategic Advisor to the ESRC and British Academy on quantitative skills development, and helped develop the UK Q-Step programme.

        His substantive research interests have ranged from social demography to gender studies, nationalism and employment relations, confirming John Tukey’s claim that statisticians get to play in everyone’s backyard.

        View Bio for John MacInnes

      • Course Resources

        You will need to access certain files and resources throughout the course to get the most out of the activities. You can find them all here. 

      • Video Transcripts

        You can access all video transcripts here. 

      • Pre-Course Self Assessment

        Before you dive into this course, spend a few moments reflecting on your familiarity with the topic and your current level of skills confidence. 

        You will then re-visit the same questions in our Post-Course Self Assessment and reflect on how the course has helped you develop in confidence and grow your skills. 

        • Module One: What Is Statistical Significance?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Recognize the difference between samples and populations
          2. Know what makes a sample random
          3. Identify target populations relevant to different research questions

        • Module Two: Variables and Their Distributions

          This module will help you to:

          1. Define variables, values and cases 
          2. Distinguish continuous and categorical variables
          3. Use the mean and standard deviation as summary statistics
          4. Recognize a normal distribution

        • Module Three: How Does a Random Sample Work?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Recognize why random samples produce good estimates of population parameters

        • Module Four: What Is a Standard Error?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Establish the precision of sample estimates through calculating and interpreting standard errors

        • Module Five: How Do I Calculate Confidence Intervals With Standard Errors?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Use confidence intervals to identify a range of samples that will include the population parameter under investigation

        • Module Six: Testing a Null Hypothesis

          This module will help you to:

          1. Define and calculate the p-value
          2. Interpret the statistical significance of a result

        • Module Seven: What Does a Significant P-Value Actually Mean?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Recognize and evaluate what the p-value can tell us about our research 

        • Glossary of Key Terms

          In addition to the glossary you’ll find woven throughout the course, you can find the full glossary collated in one place here.

        • Post-Course Self Assessment

          Now you’ve completed the course, spend a few moments reflecting on where your familiarity with the topics and your confidence skills levels are at now. 

          Has the course helped you develop new skills and grow your confidence?

          You'll need to complete the Post-Course Self Assessment in order to download your certificate. If you didn't do the Pre-Course Self Assessment before starting the course, please go to the top of the page and reflect on your familiarity with the topic and your level of skills confidence before you started the course.

          • Completion: Certificate

            Completing all modules (plus the pre and post-course assessments) will unlock the course certificate, which you can then download here. Your course certificate will only be made available once you have completed all these sections.

            If you have difficulty accessing your certificate, please contact the Sage support team at: onlinesupport@sagepub.co.uk. You can also check out this FAQ page which may be helpful.

            • Give Feedback About This Course

              Did you enjoy the course? Please take two minutes to share your feedback. We use learner feedback in future course updates and developments to provide an excellent learning experience.

            • Accessibility

              We have high standards of accessibility on Sage Campus and as of May/June 2024 all activities within this course are keyboard and screen reader compatible. For more details on accessibility standards, please see the Sage Campus Accessibility Guide.

              For those using assistive technology, please note that within this course:

              • Tab components: JAWS and NVDA behave slightly differently. For NVDA to keep reading, it is best to exit focus mode and go back to browse mode. 
              • Matching: JAWS does not read out question label on dropdown focus. 
              Original Publication date: 01-2021
              Last Updated: 06-2026