2016
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160384
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Abstract: Poor research design and data analysis encourage false-positive findings. Such poor methods persist despite perennial calls for improvement, suggesting that they result from something more than just misunderstanding. The persistence of poor methods results partly from incentives that favour them, leading to the natural selection of bad science. This dynamic requires no conscious strategizing—no deliberate cheating nor loafing—by scientists, only that publication is a principal factor for career advancement. So… Show more

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Cited by 654 publications
(710 citation statements)
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References 93 publications
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“…Giner-Sorolla, 2012;Vazire, 2018a). Many of us may find such demands unpalatable (Vazire, 2018b), but substantive changes in methodology are unlikely to occur if individual researchers do not face consequences for suboptimal methods (Smaldino & McElreath, 2016). To the extent that evidence is required to justify such demands on researchers, simulations and reviews of the literature like the one presented here might provide such policy justifications.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Giner-Sorolla, 2012;Vazire, 2018a). Many of us may find such demands unpalatable (Vazire, 2018b), but substantive changes in methodology are unlikely to occur if individual researchers do not face consequences for suboptimal methods (Smaldino & McElreath, 2016). To the extent that evidence is required to justify such demands on researchers, simulations and reviews of the literature like the one presented here might provide such policy justifications.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The committee provides a number of services, including (but not limited to) provision of expert assistance in developing protocols and statistical analysis plans, and evaluation of prepared study protocols. Their oversight and input, particularly at the study design stage, may mitigate low statistical power, inadequate study design, and flexibility in data analysis and reporting 6,71 . As recently highlighted, "asking questions at the design stage can save headaches at the analysis stage: careful data collection can greatly simplify analysis and make it more rigorous" 77 .…”
Section: Perspective Nature Human Behaviourmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Such perverse incentives may have contributed in the long run to the perpetuation of bad practices. Smaldino and McElreath (2016) persuasively modeled a system in which a process that mimics natural selection could reinforce such practices. If quantity is consistently rewarded over quality, then over time, selection will act against quality-weeding out those individuals who choose to invest effort in high-powered designs or confirmatory replications.…”
Section: Insights From Psychological Science Itselfmentioning
confidence: 99%