Three researchers examined all articles in volume 139 and the first issue of volume 140 of the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science (JASHS) for statistical problems.
Slightly fewer than half appeared to have problems. This is consistent with what has been found for other biological journals. Problems ranged from inappropriate analyses and statistical procedures to insufficient (or complete lack of) information on how the analyses were performed.
A common problem arose from taking many measurements from the same plant, which leads to correlated test results, ignored when declaring significance at P = 0.05 for each test. In this case, experiment-wise error control is lacking.
The researchers believe that many of these problems could and should have been caught in the writing or review process; i.e., identifying them did not require an extensive statistics background. This suggests that authors and reviewers have not absorbed nor kept current with many of the statistical basics needed for understanding their own data, for conducting proper statistical analyses, and for communicating their results.
For a variety of reasons, graduate training in statistics for horticulture majors appears inadequate; the researchers suggest that researchers in this field actively seek out opportunities to improve and update their statistical knowledge throughout their careers and engage a statistician as a collaborator early when unfamiliar methods are needed to design or analyze a research study. In addition, the ASHS, which publishes three journals, should assist authors, reviewers, and editors by recognizing and supporting the need for continuing education in quantitative literacy.
Read the full paper at HortScience.
Announcements
Job Offers
- Operational Grower - Strawberries
- Retail Key Account Manager
- Sales Representative Southeastern US
- Bedding and Perennials Sales Manager Europe
- Horticultural Technician
- Agronomist
- Head Grower Strawberries, Norway
- Tissue Culture Laboratory Scientist
- Manager Operations & Logistics
- Vegetable Advisor (Permanent)
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 - yesterday
- "The point isn't to eliminate human labor, but to make the work easier for my employees”
- LED trial in cucumbers that even non-cucumber growers should 'see for themselves'
- "Growing white strawberries organically leads to higher market returns"
- Challenges and opportunities in Mexico: an overview
- "Ontario grows almost three-quarters of Canada's greenhouse vegetables"
Top 5 - last week
- 10% increase of tomato production in the new Looije greenhouses
- How growers boost crop yields with greenhouse film EVO AC®
- Stronger plants & higher production with autonomous growing in Mexico
- AU: Provenance Propagation construction close to completion
- Thanks to air-conditioned greenhouses, Emirati producers can grow tomatoes during 45 °C summer
Top 5 - last month
- 10% increase of tomato production in the new Looije greenhouses
- A greenhouse full of cherry blossoms in Hungary
- Combining aquaponics and hydroponics in a 2 hectare Bahrain facility
- UAE: New desert greenhouse near Abu Dhabi opens
- "Same productivity, but without the energy costs from artificial lighting"
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-03-28 Increased productivity and control through artificial pollination
- 2023-03-28 Is aquaponics a possible answer to climate change?
- 2023-03-27 Revealing the invisible in crops
- 2023-03-27 “The product quality is maintained, ensuring a longer shelf-life”
- 2023-03-24 An Italian innovative system for managing hydroponic crops
- 2023-03-23 Nanotube sensors are capable of detecting and distinguishing gibberellin plant hormones
- 2023-03-23 Where Vietnamese horticulture challenges meet Dutch solutions
- 2023-03-22 LUX: How a greenhouse on the roof of a building in Bettembourg works
- 2023-03-22 Research as a Service at a fraction of the cost revealed at Indoor Ag-Con 2023
- 2023-03-22 Technological innovation indispensable to horticulture
- 2023-03-21 Stronger plants & higher production with autonomous growing in Mexico
- 2023-03-21 Ridder receives 2023 CEA Center Mission Award
- 2023-03-20 How growers boost crop yields with greenhouse film EVO AC®
- 2023-03-20 Rebranded Stolze Mexico expands into North American market as GROWA
- 2023-03-17 “Any new greenhouse project should be properly designed in terms of financial profitability”
- 2023-03-17 Wicketed bagger is the solution for smaller produce
- 2023-03-17 "The system accurately and consistently places interlocking trays on a pallet"
- 2023-03-17 New DLG platform for food production of the future
- 2023-03-17 Translating the sound of bees to pollinate indoor farms
- 2023-03-17 "Automatic nutrient measurement is ready to be put into practice"
