Statistics instructors’ beliefs and misconceptions about p-values

It is well known that students of inferential statistics find the hypothetical, probabilistic reasoning used in hypothesis tests difficult to understand. Consequently, they will also have difficulties in understanding p-values. It is not unusual for these students to hold misconceptions about p-values that are difficult to remove. In this study, 19 Australian tertiary statistics educators were surveyed about their beliefs about p-values, and it was found that some of these instructors held misconceptions about the nature of p-values. These findings suggest that professional learning of statistics instructors is urgently required so that instructors may have their beliefs challenged and corrected.