Fill in the blank: If a test is statistically _____, the results are less likely to be due to random chance and more likely to be due to a real difference between the groups being compared.

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Statistical significance is about how unlikely the observed difference would occur if there were no real difference between the groups. When a test is statistically significant, the p-value falls below the chosen threshold, leading us to reject the null hypothesis and conclude there’s a real difference rather than random variation. The word that fits best is significant, because it conveys this idea of a result unlikely due to chance and pointing to a real difference between groups. The other terms describe practical or subjective importance rather than probability-based conclusions about random variation, and a result can be statistically significant yet have only a small practical impact, or be not statistically significant if the sample is too small.