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Effect sizes and what to make of them

We all care about effect sizes. Yet, traditional ways of evaluating them (P < 0.05 and generic benchmarks) are failing us. We propose two paths forward: setting better, contextualized benchmarks or — more radically — letting go of benchmarks altogether. Both paths point to adjusted expectations, more detailed reporting and slow science.

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Correspondence to Friedrich M. Götz.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks David Funder and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Götz, F.M., Gosling, S.D. & Rentfrow, P.J. Effect sizes and what to make of them. Nat Hum Behav (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01858-z

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