Multiple-comparisons is a statistical situation that arises when hypothesis tests are conducted on more than one hypothesis simultaneously, causing the probability of at least one Type I error to exceed the nominal per-test significance level. Its parameters are: (1) the number of independent or dependent tests performed, (2) the per-test significance level alpha, and (3) the dependency structure among the test statistics. The persistence mechanism is through established correction procedures (Bonferroni, Holm-Bonferroni, Benjamini-Hochberg), statistical methodology textbooks, and built-in software implementations in statistical packages. [formal: multiplex comparatio | substrate: behavior | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
multiple-comparisons
Multiple-comparisons is a statistical situation that arises when hypothesis tests are conducted on more than one hypothesis simultaneously, causing the probability of at least one Type I error to exceed the nominal per-test significance le…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made statistical situation where hypothesis tests are conducted on more than one hypothesis simultaneously, inflating the family-wise error rate. Built to persist through statistical methodology, correction procedures (Bonferroni, Holm, FDR), and standard software implementations.
Names and aliases
- multiple-comparisonsen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrwa2lw500hxkyo6cui47t75DEPENDS_ON →
multiple-comparisons operates by inflating the Type I error rate of null-hypothesis testing: when you conduct multiple null-hypothesis tests simultaneously, the probability that at least one null hypothesis is incorrectly rejected increases. The removal test: remove null-hypothesis and multiple-comparisons has nothing to operate on — its entire mechanism is the interaction of multiple null tests. The practice of multiple-comparisons correction exists solely because of null-hypothesis testing.
- cmrwa9lop00iekyo6t6jw7bqlDEPENDS_ON →
Multiple comparisons is the problem of inflated false-positive rates when performing many hypothesis tests simultaneously. Remove hypothesis-testing now and multiple-comparisons stops operating — it has no independent existence outside the framework of testing hypotheses. This is object-level, not meta-level: the concept's operative mechanism IS statistical inference within hypothesis testing.
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 22, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 8cd4151ad0264bd0d24eb22300cef49357c83a2e6deca3edae7c38928220784f