A report of a clinical trial of a new drug versus a placebo noted that the new drug gave a higher proportion of successes than did the placebo (70% versus 40%). The report ended with the statement that the p value associated with this finding was equal to 0.05. This means that 5 out of 100 patients did not benefit from the new drug.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A p-value of 0.05 indicates the probability of observing the results, or more extreme, assuming the null hypothesis is true, not the proportion of patients who did not benefit from the drug.

A Report of a Clinical Trial of a New Drug