A p-value isn’t a victory lap. It’s a yardstick against a world where your treatment does nothing. You write down that world (the null), set your alpha (your risk budget for false alarms), and then ask: “If nothing were true, how surprising is what we saw?” If p < alpha, you’ve earned evidence to move beyond nothing. If p ≥ alpha, the honest headline is “not yet.” The magic here is pre-commitment. Alpha isn’t retrofitted to match a hunch; it’s chosen before you look. That turns arguments into agreements: we all know the line in the sand. Significance isn’t truth; it’s consistency with a rule you promised to follow. Keep the promise and your reputation compounds.
