Equivalence Hypothesis Testing

Equivalence hypothesis testing, or equivalence testing (ET), is a statistical method designed to address research questions regarding a negligible association among variables. The negligible association could be similar means, minimal correlation, or any other quantitative reflection of a trivial effect or association. Specifically, ET is used to find evidence that an effect of interest is so small that it is meaningless within the research setting. In ET, the null hypothesis states that an effect is meaningful, and hence, rejection of the null implies that the effect is not meaningful. For example, a researcher may wish to show that violent video games are unrelated to aggression, or that children with comorbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are equivalent to children with pure GAD or healthy controls on ...