Post hoc power is not informative

Post hoc power estimates are often requested by reviewers and/or performed by researchers after a study has been conducted. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a heuristic explanation of why post hoc power should not be used. To illustrate our point, we provide a detailed simulation study of two essentially identical research experiments hypothetically conducted in parallel at two separate universities. The simulation demonstrates that post hoc power calculations are misleading and simply not informative for data interpretation. As such, we encourage authors and peer-reviewers to avoid using or requesting post hoc power calculations.

Automated summary

This article discusses why post hoc power calculations should not be used and their misleading nature, and presents a simulation study as an illustration.