<s>
In	O
statistics	O
,	O
dichotomous	B-General_Concept
thinking	I-General_Concept
or	O
binary	O
thinking	O
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
seeing	O
a	O
discontinuity	O
in	O
the	O
possible	O
values	O
that	O
a	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
can	O
take	O
during	O
null	O
hypothesis	O
significance	O
testing	O
:	O
it	O
is	O
either	O
above	O
the	O
significance	O
threshold	O
(	O
usually	O
0.05	O
)	O
or	O
below	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
applying	O
dichotomous	B-General_Concept
thinking	I-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
first	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
of	O
0.0499	O
will	O
be	O
interpreted	O
the	O
same	O
as	O
a	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
of	O
0.0001	O
(	O
the	O
null	O
hypothesis	O
is	O
rejected	O
)	O
while	O
a	O
second	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
of	O
0.0501	O
will	O
be	O
interpreted	O
the	O
same	O
as	O
a	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
of	O
0.7	O
(	O
the	O
null	O
hypothesis	O
is	O
accepted	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fact	O
that	O
first	O
and	O
second	O
p-values	B-General_Concept
are	O
mathematically	O
very	O
close	O
is	O
thus	O
completely	O
disregarded	O
and	O
values	O
of	O
p	O
are	O
not	O
considered	O
as	O
continuous	O
but	O
are	O
interpreted	O
dichotomously	O
with	O
respect	O
to	O
the	O
significance	O
threshold	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
common	O
measure	O
of	O
dichotomous	B-General_Concept
thinking	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
cliff	O
effect	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
reason	O
to	O
avoid	O
dichotomous	B-General_Concept
thinking	I-General_Concept
is	O
that	O
p-values	B-General_Concept
and	O
other	O
statistics	O
naturally	O
change	O
from	O
study	O
to	O
study	O
due	O
to	O
random	O
variation	O
alone	O
;	O
decisions	O
about	O
refutation	O
or	O
support	O
of	O
a	O
scientific	O
hypothesis	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
result	O
from	O
a	O
single	O
study	O
are	O
therefore	O
not	O
reliable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dichotomous	B-General_Concept
thinking	I-General_Concept
is	O
very	O
often	O
associated	O
with	O
p-value	B-General_Concept
reading	O
but	O
it	O
can	O
also	O
happen	O
with	O
other	O
statistical	O
tools	O
such	O
as	O
interval	O
estimates	O
.	O
</s>
