Final answer:
Statistical significance in an analysis indicates a very small likelihood, typically less than 5%, that the results occurred by chance, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
For the findings of a statistical analysis of data to be statistically significant means that the likelihood of obtaining these results by chance is very small. More specifically, the results would only occur by chance less than 5% of the time, if the null hypothesis were true. In the context of hypothesis testing, this implies strong evidence against the null hypothesis, leading to its rejection in favor of the alternative hypothesis.
In practice, if an experiment were to test the effectiveness of a nutritional supplement and found no significant difference between the supplement and a placebo group, the findings would not be considered statistically significant at a conventional threshold such as 5%. Conversely, if there was less than a 5% chance that such a difference would occur by random chance, then the difference would be deemed statistically significant.
Therefore, the correct choice is: C. The likelihood of getting these results by chance is very small.