Title |
From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology
|
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Published in |
Frontiers in Psychology, October 2017
|
DOI | 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01847 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Erich H. Witte, Frank Zenker |
Abstract |
The gold standard for an empirical science is the replicability of its research results. But the estimated average replicability rate of key-effects that top-tier psychology journals report falls between 36 and 39% (objective vs. subjective rate; Open Science Collaboration, 2015). So the standard mode of applying null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) fails to adequately separate stable from random effects. Therefore, NHST does not fully convince as a statistical inference strategy. We argue that the replicability crisis is "home-made" because more sophisticated strategies can deliver results the successful replication of which is sufficiently probable. Thus, we can overcome the replicability crisis by integrating empirical results into genuine research programs. Instead of continuing to narrowly evaluate only the stability of data against random fluctuations (discovery context), such programs evaluate rival hypotheses against stable data (justification context). |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Germany | 5 | 28% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 17% |
United States | 1 | 6% |
Netherlands | 1 | 6% |
Italy | 1 | 6% |
Australia | 1 | 6% |
Switzerland | 1 | 6% |
Unknown | 5 | 28% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 12 | 67% |
Scientists | 5 | 28% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 6% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 75 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 19% |
Student > Master | 13 | 17% |
Researcher | 10 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 8% |
Student > Bachelor | 5 | 7% |
Other | 18 | 24% |
Unknown | 9 | 12% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 41 | 55% |
Philosophy | 4 | 5% |
Computer Science | 3 | 4% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 3% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 3% |
Other | 11 | 15% |
Unknown | 12 | 16% |