I think you're on to something regarding "significance." Over in my dept. we like to say that significance is a measure of sample size. The question, then, hinges on whether or not something has practical significance. Because we've built the whole research reputation incentive structure on the .05 significance level, studies can be designed to get that.

A great article on the problem with statistical significance (by a Frequentist) is here, called Why Most Published Research Findings Are False: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal...

The punchline seems to be, well, that there's also a large human element that contributes to the problem. I think it's one thing to rail on the Frequentist way-of-thinking; it's entirely another to state that the institution of scientific research built on it creates unwanted incentives.