The importance of estimates and confidence intervals rather than P values

The importance of reporting estimates and confidence intervals for statistical analyses has been well publicised in the arena of medical studies for some years now. The requirement to give confidence intervals for the main results of a study has been included in the statistical guidelines for contributors to medical journals since the 1980s and methodological points such as this are discussed in the Statistical Notes section of the British Medical Journal. If the use of quantitative methods in British sociology is to be encouraged, as Frank Bechhofer (1996) suggests is needed, it is important to have a forum for the dissemination of basic methodological issues which is accessible to researchers within the discipline. This note aims to achieve such dissemination by using an example from current research to illustrate this fundamental, but often overlooked, aspects of quantitative analysis.