Alternative to Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST): Understanding the Bayesian Approach

Abstract

Null Hypothesis Significance Testing is the most widely used method of analysis in social science. However, there are inherent limitations of NHST. We discuss the problems of using NHST and suggest alternative ways to solve the problems, focusing on Bayesian statistics. To supplement the limitation of NHST it has been argued that providing information regarding the effect size and confidence interval are useful. Furthermore, Bayesian statistics, which is an independent stream of study, has gained attention. We introduce the basic concept of Bayesian statistics and the application of the method in organizational research.