What term describes exploring data to find significant results without a priori hypotheses?

• A. Fishing expedition
• B. Pre-registration
• C. Cross-validation
• D. Blinding

Answer: (A)

Exploring data to find significant results without preconceived hypotheses is called a fishing expedition. The idea is to sift through many analyses and look for anything that reaches statistical significance, which can happen by chance due to multiple comparisons. Because there wasn’t a specific hypothesis to test in advance, detected effects may not reflect a true underlying relationship. This is exactly the scenario the term conveys: fishing for significance rather than testing a planned prediction.

Pre-registration, on the other hand, involves committing to hypotheses and analysis plans before collecting data to curb this kind of post hoc searching. Cross-validation is a method for assessing how well a model generalizes to new data, not about discovering significant findings. Blinding is a technique to reduce bias by concealing group information from participants or researchers.