BACKGROUND:
I run a 2X2 Between-Subjects ANOVA. I obtained:
- a low power (< 0.30) for both Independent Variables
- a not statistically significant result for one of the Independent Variables.
Still, the effect size of the two independent variables were: eta-squared 1,17% for the non statistically significant one and eta-squared 5,64% for the other one.
According to Cohen, these could be considered respectively a small and medium effect sizes. Also, as he said
"a medium effect is visible to the naked eye of a careful observer. A small effect is noticeably smaller than medium but not so small as to be trivial."
QUESTION:
Is there anything valuable that I could take out from this experiment? Or given these results (low power, no statistical significance and medium-low effect size) there's nothing valuable that can be taken?
I'm especially interested with regards to the non statistically significant independent variable: it is "gender" and I was evaluating whether or not it had an impact on measuring investment alternatives. Could I conclude my analysis saying "the experiment shows no difference exists" or better say "the experiment shows that only a subtle difference exists, and a bigger sample size could detect a significant difference"?
Thank you.