Question

The paper titled "Music for Pain Relief" (The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, April \(19 .\) 2006) concluded, based on a review of 51 studies of the effect of music on pain intensity, that "Listening to music reduces pain intensity levels ... However, the magnitude of these positive effects is small, the clinical relevance of music for pain relief in clinical practice is unclear." Are the authors of this paper claiming that the pain reduction attributable to listening to music is not statistically significant, not practically significant, or neither statistically nor practically significant? Explain.

Short answer

The authors of the paper think that the effect of listening to music on reducing pain intensity, while statistically significant, may not have enough practical significance since the overall magnitude of the positive effects is small and its clinical relevance is unclear. Therefore, they are not claiming that the impact is not statistically significant, but they are expressing uncertainty about its practical significance.

Step-by-step solution

Understand the Problem

You are required to interpret the concluding remarks of a study entitled 'Music for Pain Relief'. You need to determine whether the authors are referring to statistical significance, practical significance, or neither.

Define Statistical and Practical Significance

Statistical significance refers to the low probability that the observed result occurred due to chance, usually determined by a p-value less than the chosen significance level (usually 0.05). On the other hand, practical significance refers to whether the result is large enough to be of value in a practical sense.

Interpret the authors' conclusion

When the authors say 'Listening to music reduces pain intensity levels', they imply a certain relationship exists, which can be interpreted as an indication of statistical significance. However, following this, they state 'However, the magnitude of these positive effects is small', which implies that while statistically significant, the effect may not be very large. Thus, it may not have much practical significance. Then they say 'the clinical relevance of music for pain relief in clinical practice is unclear'. This further suggest doubts about practical significance. So, it can be concluded that the authors are expressing uncertainty about the practical significance of their findings, not the statistical significance.