写在前面：小咖在找文章素材的时候，从一篇论文的引用文献中发现了一篇很有意思的文章，题目为“如果你的P值刚好和0.05擦肩而过，你会咋办？”。看完之后，深感英文的文字游戏也可以玩得这么溜。到底说了些啥呢，大家耐心看下去，越到后面越有意思。

如果你的P值刚好和0.05擦肩而过，你该咋办？

尝试了各种合适的统计学方法，P值依然稳稳地略高于0.05，你应该得出结论“无统计学意义(non-significant)”，并这样写到文章里。然而，对于很多作者来说，这并不是他们想寻找的答案：因为感觉发布“阴性结果”的文章要比“阳性结果”的文章难呀。

很多人的解决方案就是采用由来已久的迂回策略，将无统计学意义的结果装扮地更有趣。下面这个列表，来自于同行评审期刊中的文章，这些文章的共同点是：（1）作者设定P<0.05为具有统计学意义；（2）结果未能达到P<0.05；（3）文章在描述的时候让P值看起来更有意思了。

（注：为了原汁原味的展示作者们的有趣措辞，以下英文描述不再翻译，咳咳，其实是小咖不知道该怎么翻译。。。）

• hint of significance (p>0.05)

• only a little short of significance (p>0.05)

• a strong tendency towards statistical significance (p=0.051)

• significantly better overall (p=0.051)

• slightly missed the margin of significance (p=0.051)

• narrowly avoided significance (p=0.052)

• not exactly significant (p=0.052)

• a possible trend toward significance (p=0.052)

• (barely) not statistically significant (p=0.052)

• borderline level of statistical significance (p=0.053)

• just lacked significance (p=0.053)

• at the very edge of significance (p=0.053)

• on the cusp of conventional statistical significance (p=0.054)

• at the limit of significance (p=0.054)

• close to being statistically significant (p=0.055)

• not unequivocally significant (p=0.055)

• noticeably significant (p=0.055)

• on the boundary of significance (p=0.055)

• very closely approaches the conventional significance level (p=0.055)

• weakly statistically significant (p=0.0557)

• better trends of improvement (p=0.056)

• near to statistical significance (p=0.056)

• just marginally significant (p=0.0562)

• at the verge of significance (p=0.058)

• just borderline significant (p=0.058)

• hovered at nearly a significant level (p=0.058)

• in the edge of significance (p=0.059)

• on the threshold of significance (p=0.059)

• virtually significant (p=0.059)

• on the very borderline of significance (0.05

• an observed trend (p=0.06)

• approached near significance (p=0.06)

• at the brink of significance (p=0.06)

• barely outside the range of significance (p=0.06)

• close to being significant (p=0.06)

• equivocal significance (p=0.06)

• just outside the traditional bounds of significance (p=0.06)

• leaning towards statistical significance (p=0.06)

• not as significant (p=0.06)

• not currently significant (p=0.06)

• slight non-significance (p=0.06)

• slightly exceeded significance level (p=0.06)

• tended to be significant (p=0.06)

• almost significant tendency (p=0.06)

• an inverse trend toward significance (p=0.06)

• slightly failed to reach statistical significance (p=0.061)

• slightly missed the conventional level of significance (p=0.061)

• fell narrowly short of significance (p=0.0623)

• near nominal significance (p=0.064)

• not significant in the normally accepted statistical sense (p=0.064)

• very nearly significant (p=0.0656)

• closely approaches the statistical significance (p=0.0669)

• barely failed to attain statistical significance (p=0.067)

• slightly below the level of significance (p=0.068)

• a considerable trend toward significance (p=0.069)

• approaching clinical significance (p=0.07)

• difference was apparent (p=0.07)

• fell marginally short of significance (p=0.07)

• just fails to reach conventional levels of statistical significance (p=0.07)

• nearly reached a significant level (p=0.07)

• slightly insignificant (p=0.07)

• tendency toward statistical significance (p=0.07)

• close to borderline significance (p=0.072)

• a barely detectable statistically significant difference (p=0.073)

• slightly outside the significance level (p=0.077)

• did not quite reach conventional levels of statistical significance (p=0.079)

• a trend close to significance (p=0.08)

• an expected trend (p=0.08)

• approaching, although not reaching, significance (p=0.08)

• not significant in the formal statistical sense (p=0.08)

• not very definitely significant from the statistical point of view (p=0.08)

• almost non-significant (p=0.083)

• not fully significant (p=0.085)

• approaching a level of significance (p=0.089)

• not highly significant (p=0.089)

• approaching, but not reaching, significance (p<0.09)

• a numerical trend (p=0.09)

• a significant trend (p=0.09)

• a small trend (p=0.09)

• highly significant (p=0.09)

• tended to approach significance (p=0.09)

• does not reach the conventional significance level (p=0.098)

• very slightly significant (p<0.1)

• almost clinically significant (p<0.10)

• an adverse trend (p=0.10)

• essentially significant (p=0.10)

• not entirely significant (p=0.10)

• possibly statistically significant (p=0.10)

• very slightly non-significant (p=0.10)

• tantalisingly close to significance (p=0.104)

• approaching formal significance (p=0.1052)

• not decisively significant (p=0.106)

• tentatively significant (p=0.107)

• verged on being significant (p=0.11)

• possibly marginally significant (p=0.116)

• fell just short of statistical significance (p=0.12)

• fell somewhat short of significance (p=0.138)

• approaches but fails to achieve a customary level of statistical significance (p=0.154)

• close to the limit of significance (p=0.17)

• a very slight trend toward significance (p=0.20)

受篇幅所限，上面列表随机抽取了原文列表的五分之一，所以说不止100种，是有500种呀，想看完整版的可以查看下面这个链接：https://mchankins.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/still-not-significant-2/