Expanding the investigation of meaningful effects in physiology research

The statistical investigation of meaningful changes in response to physiological interventions has increased considerably during the past decade. Indeed, in the field of exercise physiology it is now commonplace for performance test outcomes to be assessed using magnitude-based inferences (MBI) as either the sole method of statistical analysis [1] or in combination with null-hypothesis significance testing [2]. Additionally, the focus on ‘personalized medicine’ during recent years has stimulated significant interest in the quantification of true and meaningful individual responses to interventions within the field of human physiology. The purpose of the present article is to provide a brief overview of MBI and individual response differences, with a focus on the potential for wider applications in other areas of physiology research. Recent developments from our research groups are used as examples to demon strate the potential for an expanded use of these approaches.