A new study that is being released soon in
Science discusses how reproducible 100 different studies in the field of Psychology are. The final results were not very good for the field and could possibly lead to several retractions.
According to the researchers:
Cathleen O'Grady writes:
Of the 100 original studies, 97 had results that were statistically significant; only a third of the replications, however, had statistically significant results. Around half of the replications had effect sizes that were roughly comparable to the original studies. The teams conducting the replications reported whether they considered the effect to be replicated, and only 39 percent of them said it did. These criteria suggest that fewer than half of the originals were successfully replicated.
Now, I have always heard that psychology and social science is less structured than some of the more rigorous fields, such as physics or geology, but the question is what, if any, takeaways should we find for the scientific community from these results. Should certain areas of science be required to increase repeat experiments to avoid this statistical error or should this new paradigm be applied across the board for all sciences. If it is for all sciences, what methods can be undertaken to ensure that journals print more repeat experiments and failures to replicate instead of only focusing on the "sexy" new ideas?
I was thinking either "Is it Science" or Miscellaneous, but will defer to moderator decision.
100 Psychology Experiments Repeated Less Than Half Successful
The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity. - Richard Dawkins
Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. - Issac Asimov
If you removed all the arteries, veins, & capillaries from a person’s body, and tied them end-to-endthe person will die. - Neil Degrasse Tyson
What would Buddha do? Nothing! What does the Buddhist terrorist do? Goes into the middle of the street, takes the gas, *pfft*, Self-Barbecue. The Christian and the Muslim on either side are yelling, "What the Fuck are you doing?" The Buddhist says, "Making you deal with your shit. - Robin Williams