New Publication: Rethinking How We Quantify Effects in Cell Biology

We’re excited to share a new publication from Josh Morgan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, titled “Alternative to the statistical mass confusion of testing for ‘no effect’”, published in the July 2025 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Morgan’s work challenges the traditional reliance on P values to determine whether an effect exists. While P values have been widely used, they often obscure the true biological story, making trivial effects seem important and masking meaningful variation.

This publication highlights the power of confidence intervals (CI95) as a better default statistic for cell biology. Confidence intervals emphasize effect size and precision, helping researchers answer the question that really matters: how strong is the effect observed? From analyzing mutations in a given protein to evaluating experimental models, CI95 allows scientists to interpret results in the context of biological variation and measurement error.

By focusing on effect sizes, the approach encourages more thoughtful experimental design and realistic interpretation of results. It shifts the field from simply rejecting null hypotheses to quantifying meaningful biological effects, paving the way for a literature that better reflects the complexity and nuance of cellular biology.

Read the full article here:

 https://rupress.org/jcb/article/224/8/e202403034/278144/Alternative-to-the-statistical-mass-confusion-of?searchresult=1