The replication crisis in psychology refers to concerns about the credibility of findings in psychological science.
What is the replication crisis and why does it matter?
What does the replication crisis in psychology refer to? The replication crisis in psychology refers to concerns about the credibility of findings in psychological science. …. For this reason, many scientists question the accuracy of published findings and now call for increased scrutiny of research practices in psychology.
Why is the replication crisis centered on social psychology?
This seems mostly right. As to why the replication crisis is centered on social psychology of all psychological fields, I’d guess it’s because it’s a relatively large field and one that is based on small, cheap experiments and NHST rather than say large longitudinal datasets and effect size estimation.
Does social science have a replication crisis?
Social science and the replication crisis. The replication crisis is typically discussed in the context of particular silly claims, or in terms of the sociology of science, or with regard to controversies in statistical practice. Here we discuss the content of unreplicated or otherwise shaky empirical claims in social science, which often seem ...
Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis?
Psychology has recently been viewed as facing a replication crisis because efforts to replicate past study findings frequently do not show the same result. Often, the first study showed a statistically significant result but the replication does not.
What is meant by the term replication crisis?
The replication crisis, also known as the reproducibility crisis and the replicability crisis, is a crisis that impacts the methodology of scientific research. Over time, it has been realized by several bodies that the results of many scientific studies are hard or almost impossible to accurately reproduce.
What is replication in psychology example?
For example, imagine that health psychologists perform an experiment showing that hypnosis can be effective in helping middle-aged smokers kick their nicotine habit. Other researchers might want to replicate the same study with younger smokers to see if they reach the same result.
What is the replication crisis in psychology Google Scholar?
Psychological science is in the midst of what has been referred to as a “replication crisis.” The realization that many individual findings do not replicate in new studies has led to questioning the scientific method and the integrity of psychological science.
What has caused the replication crisis?
The replication crisis, though, stems from wholesale flaws baked into the systems and institutions that support scientific research, which not only permit bad scientific practices, but actually encourage them. And, if anything, things have been getting worse over the past few decades.
When did the replication crisis happen?
So what is going on and is it really a crisis? The dialogue around replication ignited in 2015 when Brian Nosek's lab reported that after replicating 100 studies from three psychology journals, researchers were unable to reproduce a large portion of findings.
What is the main solution to the replication crisis?
One solution to this problem is to increase the number of observations with repeated measurements, but this is also not always possible or not much cheaper. Limited resources are the main reason why psychologists are often conducting underpowered studies.
What is the role of replication in psychological research?
Psychologists and other social science researchers often use replication studies to test the validity of existing studies. By repeating an experiment, psychologists can compare their data to the findings of the original study to determine the validity of the original experiment's results.
Why are replications particularly important in social psychology?
Rather than being a “waste of time,” therefore, experimental replication of one's own and others' findings can be a useful tool for restoring confidence in the reliability of basic effects—provided that certain conditions are met.
Why is it important to replicate a research study?
Replication is one of the key ways scientists build confidence in the scientific merit of results. When the result from one study is found to be consistent by another study, it is more likely to represent a reliable claim to new knowledge.
Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis?
Psychology has recently been viewed as facing a replication crisis because efforts to replicate past study findings frequently do not show the same result. Often, the first study showed a statistically significant result but the replication does not.
What are two main contributing factors to the reproducibility crisis?
Main factors contributing to the crisisFailure to comply with proper practices. Research and scientific practices should be scrupulous and have high attention to detail. ... Rush to publish. ... Lack of transparency. ... Issues with the peer-review system. ... Public interest.
What is the crisis in social psychology?
The concept of 'crisis of relevance' refers to the social responsiveness of social psychology. Many people felt dissatisfaction with social psychology in relation to their own lives and the social world around them (Armistead, 1974).
What is replication in an experiment?
In statistics, replication is repetition of an experiment or observation in the same or similar conditions. Replication is important because it adds information about the reliability of the conclusions or estimates to be drawn from the data. The statistical methods that assess that reliability rely on replication.
What is an example of case study in psychology?
Examples of case studies in examples are those of Phineas Gage, Chris Sizemore, and Jill Price. Phineas Gage suffered from a brain injury during a railroad accident that changed his personality. Psychologists often cite his case as a way to understand traumatic brain injuries and their possible effects on personality.
What psychology studies have been replicated?
The other successfully replicated phenomenon were the Simon effect, the spacing effect, the serial position effect, associative priming, repetition priming and shape simulation.
What is direct replication in psychology?
Direct replication is defined as attempting to reproduce a previously observed result with a procedure that provides no a priori reason to expect a different outcome (Open Science Collaboration, 2015; Schmidt, 2009).
What is Replication?
Example of direct replication and conceptual replication of Asch's conformity experiment.
Why is conceptual replication important?
Both exact and conceptual replications are important because they each tell us something new. Exact replications tell us whether the original findings are true, at least under the exact conditions tested. Conceptual replications help confirm whether the theoretical idea behind the findings is true, and under what conditions these findings will occur. In other words, conceptual replication offers insights into how generalizable the findings are.
Why is replication important in science?
Replication protects against false positives (seeing a result that is not really there) and also increases confidence that the result actually exists. If you collect satisfaction data among homeless people living in Kolkata, India, for example, it might seem strange that they would report fairly high satisfaction with their food (which is exactly what we found in Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2001 ). If you find the exact same result, but at a different time, and with a different sample of homeless people living in Kolkata, however, you can feel more confident that this result is true (as we did in Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2006 ).
How much of psychology studies replicate?
Clearly, there is a very large problem when only about 1/3 of the psychological studies in premier journals replicate! It appears that this problem is particularly pronounced for social psychology but even the 53% replication level of cognitive psychology is cause for concern.
When researchers criticize others for being unable to replicate the original findings, they say that the conditions in the follow answer?
When researchers criticize others for being unable to replicate the original findings, saying that the conditions in the follow-up study were changed, this is important to pay attention to as well. Not all criticism is knee-jerk defensiveness or resentment. The replication crisis has stirred heated emotions among research psychologists and the public, but it is time for us to calm down and return to a more scientific attitude and system of programmatic research.
What happens if you see a pirate?
If you were driving down the road and you saw a pirate standing at an intersection you might not believe your eyes. But if you continued driving and saw a second, and then a third, you might become more confident in your observations. The more pirates you saw the less likely the first sighting would be a false positive (you were driving fast and the person was just wearing an unusual hat and billowy shirt) and the more likely it would be the result of a logical reason (there is a pirate themed conference in town). This somewhat absurd example is a real-life illustration of replication: the repeated findings of the same results.
Why is psychology under criticism?
Recently, the science of psychology has come under criticism because a number of research findings do not replicate. In this module we discuss reasons for non-replication, the impact this phenomenon has on the field, and suggest solutions to the problem. Priming.
Why is replication important in psychology?
In science, replication is the process of repeating research to determine the extent to which findings generalize across time and across situations. Recently, the science of psychology has come under criticism because a number of research findings do not replicate. In this module we discuss reasons for non-replication, the impact this phenomenon has on the field, and suggest solutions to the problem.
What is Replication?
Figure 3.19: Example of direct replication and conceptual replication of Asch’s conformity experiment.
Why is conceptual replication important?
Both exact and conceptual replications are important because they each tell us something new. Exact replications tell us whether the original findings are true, at least under the exact conditions tested. Conceptual replications help confirm whether the theoretical idea behind the findings is true, and under what conditions these findings will occur. In other words, conceptual replication offers insights into how generalizable the findings are.
How much of psychology studies replicate?
Clearly, there is a very large problem when only about 1/3 of the psychological studies in premier journals replicate! It appears that this problem is particularly pronounced for social psychology but even the 53% replication level of cognitive psychology is cause for concern.
When researchers criticize others for being unable to replicate the original findings, they say that the conditions in the follow answer?
When researchers criticize others for being unable to replicate the original findings, saying that the conditions in the follow-up study were changed, this is important to pay attention to as well. Not all criticism is knee-jerk defensiveness or resentment. The replication crisis has stirred heated emotions among research psychologists and the public, but it is time for us to calm down and return to a more scientific attitude and system of programmatic research.
Why is non-reproducibility disturbing?
The non-reproducibility of findings is disturbing because it suggests the possibility that the original research was done sloppily. Even worse is the suspicion that the research may have been falsified. In science, faking results is the biggest of sins, the unforgivable sin, and for this reason the field of psychology has been thrown into an uproar. However, as we will discuss, there are a number of explanations for non-replication, and not all are bad.
Who called on social psychologists to clean up their act?
The situation in psychology has grown so worrisome that the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman called on social psychologists to clean up their act (Kahneman, 2012). The Nobel laureate spoke bluntly of doubts about the integrity of psychology research, calling the current situation in the field a “mess.”.
How many replications were successful?
Only 36% of the replications were "successful" (i.e., produced p values < .05).
Is the phenomenon in question necessarily illusory?
Does this mean that the phenomenon in question is necessarily illusory? Absolutely not. If the studies were well designed and executed, it is more likely that the phenomenon from Study A is true only under certain conditions. The scientist's job now is to figure out what those conditions are, in order to form new and better hypotheses to test. [ More]
Is social psychology as likely to replicate as cognitive psychology?
Social psychology findings were less than half as likely to replicate as findings in cognitive psychology.
Is it normal for psychology to fail to replicate?
Psychology's doing just fine.". the failure to replicate is not a cause for alarm; in fact, it is a normal part of how science works... Suppose you have two well-designed, carefully run studies, A and B, that investigate the same phenomenon.
Did the researchers take pains to replicate the studies as precisely as possible?
On top of that, the researchers took pains to replicate the studies as precisely as possible, which should have eliminated any meaningful context effects.
Is 36% replication rate good?
Furthermore, even if none of these things were an issue, the replication rate would still be worrying low given how rarely replications are attempted or published in psychology. A 36% replication rate might be fine if we paid more attention to rooting out false positives from the literature - but we don't, so it's not.
3 Replication Crisis in Psychology
Diener, E. & Biswas-Diener, R. (2021). The replication crisis in psychology. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/q4cvydeh
The Disturbing Problem
If you were driving down the road and you saw a pirate standing at an intersection you might not believe your eyes. But if you continued driving and saw a second, and then a third, you might become more confident in your observations.
What is Replication?
Example of direct replication and conceptual replication of Asch’s conformity experiment.
Enormity of the Current Crisis
Recently, there has been growing concern as psychological research fails to replicate. To give you an idea of the extent of non-replicability of psychology findings, below are data reported in 2015 by the Open Science Collaboration project, led by University of Virginia psychologist Brian Nosek ( Open Science Collaboration, 2015 ).
Examples of Non-replications in Psychology
A large number of scientists have attempted to replicate studies on what might be called “metaphorical priming,” and more often than not these replications have failed. Priming is the process by which a recent reference (often a subtle, subconscious cue) can increase the accessibility of a trait.
Reasons for Non-replication
When findings do not replicate, the original scientists sometimes become indignant and defensive, offering reasons or excuses for non-replication of their findings—including, at times, attacking those attempting the replication.
In Defense of Replication Attempts
Failures in replication are not all bad and, in fact, some non-replication should be expected in science. Original studies are conducted when an answer to a question is uncertain. That is to say, scientists are venturing into new territory. In such cases we should expect some answers to be uncovered that will not pan out in the long run.
Why Is Replication so Important in Psychology?
When studies are replicated and achieve the same or similar results as the original study, it gives greater validity to the findings. If a researcher can replicate a study’s results, it means that it is more likely that those results can be generalized to the larger population.
Why are psychology results so difficult to replicate?
So why are psychology results so difficult to replicate? Writing for The Guardian, John Ioannidis suggested that there are a number of reasons why this might happen, including competition for research funds and the powerful pressure to obtain significant results. There is little incentive to retest, so many results obtained purely by chance are simply accepted without further research or scrutiny.
How Do Scientists Replicate an Experiment?
When conducting a study or experiment, it is essential to have clearly defined operational definitions. In other words, what is the study attempting to measure?
Why should replications be included in original research?
The Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman has suggested that because published studies are often too vague in describing methods used, replications should involve the authors of the original studies in order to more carefully mirror the methods and procedures used in the original research . 3 In fact, one investigation has found that when original researchers are involved, replication rates are much higher. 1
What does it mean when a researcher can replicate a study?
If a researcher can replicate a study’s results, it means that it is more likely that those results can be generalized to the larger population.
What is the term for the repetition of a research study?
Replication is a term referring to the repetition of a research study, generally with different situations and different subjects, to determine if the basic findings of the original study can be applied to other participants and circumstances. 1
What are some examples of unexpected effects on the results of an experiment?
For example, minor differences in things like the way questions are presented, the weather, or even the time of day the study is conducted might have an unexpected impact on the results of an experiment. Researchers might strive to perfectly reproduce the original study, but variations are expected and often impossible to avoid.
When was the replication crisis discovered?
This may be the source of the ‘replication crisis’, first discovered in the early 2010s.
How many studies did Serra Garcia replicate?
Serra-Garcia and Gneezy analysed data from three influential replication projects which tried to systematically replicate the findings in top psychology, economic and general science journals (Nature and Science). In psychology, only 39% of the 100 experiments successfully replicated. In economics, 61% of the 18 studies replicated as did 62% of the 21 studies published in Nature/Science.
Why is unreliable research cited?
The unreliable research tends to be cited as if the results were true long after the publication failed to replicate.
What is the replication crisis?
After its publication, the September issue of American Psychologist, the flagship publication of the American Psychological Association, was devoted to what has been termed the “ replication crisis ” in psychology. Some of the articles in this issue attempted to dismiss or minimize the significance of The Reproducibility Project, ...
What is the replication problem in psychotherapy?
In the psychotherapy research field, the replication problem has been widely discussed for years, with some investigators ignoring it, others dismissing its significance, and others making serious efforts to grapple with its implications.
What is research methodology in psychology?
Research methodology in mainstream psychology is shaped, broadly speaking, by a combination of neo-positivist and falsificationist philosophies that were developed prior to the naturalistic turn in science studies. [8] [9] In this essay I have been making the case that some of the more important aspects of research activity in psychology take place behind the scenes, and consequently are not part of the published record. Researchers in psychology mine their data to search for interesting patterns, they experiment with trial and error procedures in order to produce compelling demonstrations of phenomena, and they selectively ignore inconvenient findings in order to make their cases. The idea that formulating hypotheses and collecting data take place in a linear and sequential fashion is an idealized portrayal of what happens in psychology research, quite distinct from what happens on the ground. In practice, data analysis and theory formulation are more intertwined in nature.
What is pilot research?
Pilot research is the trial and error process through which the investigator develops important aspects of his or her methodological procedure. One important aspect of this pilot phase entails experimenting with different ways of (what is termed) implementing the experimental manipulation (i.e. the conditions that the subjects are exposed to) until one is able to consistently demonstrate the phenomenon of interest. This type of “stage management” is part of the art of psychology research. Is such “stage management” inherently problematic? Not necessarily. What is problematic is that publications don’t as a rule describe the pilot work that that led to the development of the effective experimental manipulation.
What is the skill of psychology?
An important aspect of the skill of psychological research consists of devising creative procedures for demonstrating phenomena. While psychology research is not performance art, a key element in whether or not a particular piece of research has an impact on the field is the vividness or memorability of the study.
What happens if a study cannot be replicated?
If findings cannot be replicated, the trustworthiness of the research becomes suspect. The publication in Science outlined the findings of a major project that had attempted to replicate 100 studies that had been published in major psychology journals in recent years.
What was the impact of Milgram's experiment on public perception?
Despite this controversy, Milgram’s experiment had a lasting effect on public perception and remains one of the most well-known experiments in the history of psychology.
The Disturbing Problem
What Is Replication?
Enormity of The Current Crisis
Examples of Non-Replications in Psychology
Reasons For Non-Replication
in Defense of Replication Attempts
Solutions to The Problem
- Dissemination of Replication Attempts
1. Psychfiledrawer.org: Archives attempted replications of specific studies and whether replication was achieved. 2. Center for Open Science: Psychologist Brian Nosek, a champion of replication in psychology, has created the Open Science Framework, where replications can be r… - More Systematic Programs of Scientific Research
The reward structure in academia has served to discourage replication. Many psychologists—especially those who work full time at universities—are often rewarded at work—with promotions, pay raises, tenure, and prestige—through their research. Replications of …
The Replication Crisis in Psychology
The Disturbing Problem
What Is Replication?
Enormity of The Current Crisis
Examples of Non-Replications in Psychology
Reasons For Non-Replication
in Defense of Replication Attempts
Solutions to The Problem