Performance Analysis · Reading the result · Component
The alternatives
Other explanations for the same result, and which can be excluded — because a finding with unexcluded alternatives is a hypothesis.
The deliverable
What it is
The discipline is to produce three alternative explanations before concluding. It is uncomfortable, quick, and it catches most premature conclusions.
Selection and timing are the two that recur: the compared groups differed to begin with, or something else changed at the same moment.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The explanations
What else could produce this result.
3 attributes: Alternative · Type · Plausibility
LearnThe exclusions
Which alternatives can be ruled out, and how.
3 attributes: Alternative · Excluded by · Excluded
LearnThe remaining
What cannot be ruled out.
3 attributes: Remaining alternative · What would settle it · Worth pursuing
Learn
Produce three alternative explanations before concluding. It is quick and it catches most premature conclusions.
The other components in reading the result
The finding
What the analysis actually shows, with effect size — because a real effect too small to matter is expensive to act on.
LearnThe confidence
How much weight the finding can bear, stated rather than implied — because an unstated confidence is read as certainty.
Learn