Failures to replicate published psychological research findings have contributed to a "crisis of confidence." Several reasons for these failures have been proposed, the most notable being questionable research practices and data fraud. We examine …
Background: We explore whether the number of null results in large National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded trials has increased over time. Methods: We identified all large NHLBI supported RCTs between 1970 and 2012 evaluating drugs or …
Many philosophers of science and methodologists have argued that the ability to repeat studies and obtain similar results is an essential component of science. A finding is elevated from single observation to scientific evidence when the procedures …
Many published research results are false (Ioannidis, 2005), and controversy continues over the roles of replication and publication policy in improving the reliability of research. Addressing these problems is frustrated by the lack of a formal …
Although replications are vital to scientific progress, psychologists rarely engage in systematic replication efforts. In this article, we consider psychologists’ narrative approach to scientific publications as an underlying reason for this neglect …
Existing norms for scientific communication are rooted in anachronistic practices of bygone eras making them needlessly inefficient. We outline a path that moves away from the existing model of scientific communication to improve the efficiency in …
Justification, in the vernacular language of philosophy of science, refers to the evaluation, defense, and confirmation of claims of truth. In this article, we examine some aspects of the rhetoric of justification, which in part draws on statistical …
Theories in "soft" areas of psychology (e.g., clinical, counseling, social, personality, school, and community) lack the cumulative character of scientific knowledge because they tend neither to be refuted nor corroborated, but instead merely fade …
Newly discovered true (non-null) associations often have inflated effects compared with the true effect sizes. I discuss here the main reasons for this inflation. First, theoretical considerations prove that when true discovery is claimed based on …
The ideal of scientific progress is that we accumulate measurements and integrate these into theory, but recent discussion of replicability issues has cast doubt on whether psychological research conforms to this model. Developmental …