The p-value is the probability that your results would look the way they look, or would seem to show an even bigger effect, if the effect you’re interested in weren’t actually present.17 Notably, the p-value doesn’t tell you the probability that your result is true (whatever that might mean), nor how important it is. It just answers the question: ‘in a world where your hypothesis isn’t true, how likely is it that pure noise would give you results like the ones you have, or ones with an even larger effect?’
