

# statcheck 

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[![](http://cranlogs.r-pkg.org/badges/grand-total/statcheck?color=green)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=statcheck)
[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/devel%20version-1.5.0-yellow.svg)](https://github.com/MicheleNuijten/statcheck)

## What is statcheck?

`statcheck` is a “spellchecker” for statistics. It checks whether your
*p*-values match their accompanying test statistic and degrees of
freedom.

`statcheck` searches for null-hypothesis significance test (NHST) in APA
style (e.g., *t*(28) = 2.2, *p* \< .05). It recalculates the p-value
using the reported test statistic and degrees of freedom. If the
reported and computed p-values don’t match, `statcheck` will flag the
result as an error.

![](man/figures/infograph.png)

## What can I use statcheck for?

`statcheck` is mainly useful for:

1.  **Self-checks**: you can use `statcheck` to make sure your
    manuscript doesn’t contain copy-paste errors or other
    inconsistencies before you submit it to a journal.
2.  **Peer review**: editors and reviewers can use `statcheck` to check
    submitted manuscripts for statistical inconsistencies. They can ask
    authors for a correction or clarification before publishing a
    manuscript.
3.  **Research**: `statcheck` can be used to automatically extract
    statistical test results from articles that can then be analyzed.
    You can for instance investigate whether you can predict statistical
    inconsistencies (see e.g., Nuijten et al., 2017
    <doi:10.1525/collabra.102>), or use it to analyze p-value
    distributions (see e.g., Hartgerink et al., 2016
    <doi:10.7717/peerj.1935>).

## How does statcheck work?

The algorithm behind `statcheck` consists of four basic steps:

1.  **Convert** pdf and html articles to plain text files.
2.  **Search** the text for instances of NHST results. Specifically,
    `statcheck` can recognize *t*-tests, *F*-tests, correlations,
    *z*-tests, $\chi^2$ -tests, and Q-tests (from meta-analyses) if they
    are reported completely (test statistic, degrees of freedom, and
    *p*-value) and in APA style.
3.  **Recompute** the *p*-value using the reported test statistic and
    degrees of freedom.
4.  **Compare** the reported and recomputed *p*-value. If the reported
    *p*-value does not match the computed one, the result is marked as
    an *inconsistency* (`error` in the output). If the reported
    *p*-value is significant and the computed is not, or vice versa, the
    result is marked as a *gross inconsistency* (`decision_error` in the
    output).

`statcheck` takes into account correct rounding of the test statistic,
and has the option to take into account one-tailed testing. See the
[manual](http://rpubs.com/michelenuijten/statcheckmanual) for details.

## Installation and use

For detailed information about installing and using `statcheck`, see the
[manual on RPubs](http://rpubs.com/michelenuijten/statcheckmanual).

Also see [statcheck.io](http://statcheck.io/), a web-based interface for
statcheck.
