0000000000539632
AUTHOR
Susana Ruiz-fernández
A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2021, corrected publication 2022
Manipulating the alpha level cannot cure significance testing
We argue that making accept/reject decisions on scientific hypotheses, including a recent call for changing the canonical alpha level from p = 0.05 to p = 0.005, is deleterious for the finding of new discoveries and the progress of science. Given that blanket and variable alpha levels both are problematic, it is sensible to dispense with significance testing altogether. There are alternatives that address study design and sample size much more directly than significance testing does; but none of the statistical tools should be taken as the new magic method giving clear-cut mechanical answers. Inference should not be based on single studies at all, but on cumulative evidence from multiple in…
Influence of Resilience and Optimism on Distress and Intention to Self-Isolate: Contrasting Lower and Higher COVID-19 Illness Risk Samples From an Extended Health Belief Model
The study investigated the influence of resilience and dispositional optimism on, first, emotional distress and, second, the intention to self-isolate, experienced by people with a lower and higher illness risk, during the lockdown imposed in Spain during the first COVID-19 wave. These effects were investigated against the background of the Health Belief Model (HBM). A convenience sample of N = 325 participants completed an online survey including an ad-hoc questionnaire measuring the HBM core factors: Perceived health threat (susceptibility and severity of getting infected), and perceived quarantine benefits and costs. Self-efficacy and perceived social pressure were also measured. Based o…