Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar;46(1):158-167.
doi: 10.1057/s41271-024-00538-6. Epub 2024 Dec 11.

How to find nothing 2.0

David Hemenway  1
Affiliations
Review

How to find nothing 2.0

David Hemenway. J Public Health Policy. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Various problematic statistical approaches can be used in regression analyses to help find no significant relationship between explanatory variables and response variables-"to find nothing." In an earlier paper, I provided examples of finding nothing from firearm studies, focusing on the lack of statistical power. In this Viewpoint, I offer three examples of "finding nothing" from firearms research and focus on a single hypothesis-that household gun ownership levels affect suicide rates, examining one type of evidence-cross-sectional ecological studies. I discuss studies examining variations in suicide rates across US states, US cities, and nations, highlighting the work of the one firearm researcher who continually "finds nothing."

Keywords: Firearms; Guns; Hypotheses testing; Multicollinearity; Suicide.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Hemenway D. How to find nothing. J Public Health Pol. 2009;30:260–8. - DOI
    1. Kleck G. Macro-level research on the effect of firearms prevalence on suicide rates: a systematic review and new evidence. Soc Sci Quart. 2019;100:936–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12602 . - DOI
    1. Kleck G, Patterson EB. The impact of gun control and gun ownership levels on violence rates. J Quant Criminol. 1993;9:249–87. - DOI
    1. Kleck G. The cross-national association of gun ownership rates and suicide rates: an analysis of 194 nations. Arch Suicide Res. 2022;26:1478–86. - DOI
    1. McDowall D, Lizotte AJ, Wiersema B. General deterrence through civilian gun ownership: an evaluation of the quasi-experimental evidence. Criminology. 1991;29:541–59. - DOI

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources