From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology
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 mo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01847/full |
| _version_ | 1818526763633868800 |
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| author | Erich H. Witte Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker |
| author_facet | Erich H. Witte Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker |
| author_sort | Erich H. Witte |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T06:27:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fe53a9e4ee71428b85fcaff7b994f4fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T06:27:27Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-fe53a9e4ee71428b85fcaff7b994f4fc2022-12-22T01:17:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-10-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.01847232397From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical PsychologyErich H. Witte0Frank Zenker1Frank Zenker2Frank Zenker3Frank Zenker4Social and Economic Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, GermanyPhilosophy and Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, SwedenInstitute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Bratislava, SlovakiaPhilosophy, Konstanz University, Konstanz, GermanyInstitute of Logic and Cognition, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, ChinaThe 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).http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01847/fullconfirmationknowledge accumulationmeta-analysispsi-hypothesisreplicability crisisresearch programs |
| spellingShingle | Erich H. Witte Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker Frank Zenker From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology Frontiers in Psychology confirmation knowledge accumulation meta-analysis psi-hypothesis replicability crisis research programs |
| title | From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology |
| title_full | From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology |
| title_fullStr | From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology |
| title_short | From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology |
| title_sort | from discovery to justification outline of an ideal research program in empirical psychology |
| topic | confirmation knowledge accumulation meta-analysis psi-hypothesis replicability crisis research programs |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01847/full |
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