{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20261011-9e4b62c5",
  "url": "/knowledge/compare-subgroup-effects-not-their-significance-labels",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0072",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Compare subgroup effects, not their significance labels",
  "summary": "Significant here and not there is not the same as significantly different.",
  "kind": "anti_pattern",
  "body": "The groups may have similar estimated effects but different precision. Look for an appropriate direct comparison or interaction analysis rather than comparing the two labels.",
  "limits": [
    "Even an interaction result needs attention to planning, multiple comparisons, plausibility and uncertainty. Do not invent a subgroup-specific recommendation."
  ],
  "topics": [],
  "intents": [
    "understand-a-decision"
  ],
  "source_ids": [
    "cochrane-meta-analysis"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Different significance labels in two subgroups do not establish that their effects differ.",
      "source_id": "cochrane-meta-analysis",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Claim basis: guidance. Claim limit: Comparing subgroups requires an appropriate direct analysis and attention to multiplicity.\nSource access: selected_html_passages; accessed on: 2026-10-01; inspected sections: [\"10.2\", \"10.10.1-10.10.4\", \"10.11.3\", \"10.11.1-10.11.3.1\", \"MECIR Box 10.11.a\", \"10.11.5.2-10.11.5.6\", \"10.11.6\"].\nSource note: The chapter reports a November 2024 update. No single heterogeneity threshold is promoted as decisive. Separate source-access audit (2026-10-01): Chapter 10 still identifies November 2024 and version 6.5. The 2026-10-01 check covers its citation and sections 10.11.1-10.11.3.1, 10.11.5.2-10.11.5.6 and 10.11.6. The older 10.2/10.10 reading history is retained, not newly appraised. Overall Handbook updates do not change this chapter’s stated revision. No single heterogeneity threshold is promoted as decisive.",
      "locator": "10.11.3-10.11.3.1; MECIR Box 10.11.a; limits in 10.11.5.2-10.11.5.6 and 10.11.6"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "A result is called different between groups because only one crossed a p-value threshold."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Even an interaction result needs attention to planning, multiple comparisons, plausibility and uncertainty. Do not invent a subgroup-specific recommendation."
  ],
  "recognition": "The groups may have similar estimated effects but different precision. Look for an appropriate direct comparison or interaction analysis rather than comparing the two labels.",
  "example": "In an illustrative software-training report, one experience group has p = 0.04 and another has p = 0.08. Those labels alone do not show that the training effects differ.",
  "check": "Does the report directly compare subgroup effects, with uncertainty, rather than compare separate significance labels?",
  "published_at": "2026-10-01T20:30:00Z",
  "editorial_overlay": null,
  "editorial": null,
  "notices": [],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "cochrane-meta-analysis",
      "title": "Chapter 10: Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses",
      "url": "https://www.cochrane.org/authors/handbooks-and-manuals/handbook/current/chapter-10"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-D4FD0B28897E9517",
      "title": "Check what a study can actually tell you",
      "url": "/collections/check-what-a-study-can-actually-tell-you"
    }
  ],
  "topic_hubs": [],
  "solution_packs": []
}