Are Most Published Research Findings False?

Author(s):  
Andreas Diekmann

SummaryIn a provocative article Ioannidis (2005) argues that, in disciplines employing statistical tests of significance, professional journals report more wrong than true significant results. This short note sketches the argument and explores under what conditions the assertion holds. The “positive predictive value” (PPV) is lower than 1/2 if the a priori probability of the truth of a hypothesis is low. However, computation of the PPV includes only significant results. If both significant and non-significant results are taken into account the “total error ratio” (TER) will not exceed 1/2 provided no extremely large publication bias is present. Moreover, it is shown that theory-driven research may reduce the proportion of errors. Also, the role of replications is emphasized; replication studies of original research are so important because they drastically decrease the error ratio.

Prospects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 265-280
Author(s):  
Su Lyn Corcoran ◽  
Lillian Aoko Awimbo ◽  
Kelvin Mugwanga ◽  
Irene Atieno Aluoch

AbstractThis article contributes to the literature on street-connectedness and inclusive education, presenting original research findings from two Kenyan studies. Both studies aim to understand street-connected young people’s experiences of education. The first focused on transitioning from the street into education or training, to explore the challenges of making that transition. The second focused on young people who had lived on the street for extended periods of time and were still there at the time of data generation. Both studies generated significant insight into (a) education as motivating initial migrations to the street, (b) the role of fear, embarrassment, and shame in preventing young people from going (back) into formal education, and (c) how acceptance and support are key to overcoming feelings of not belonging and other challenges when transitioning from the street into school. The article provides empirical evidence that should be considered when planning inclusive education provision for street-connected young people globally.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1250091 ◽  
Author(s):  
ORLANDO LUONGO ◽  
LUCA BONANNO ◽  
GERARDO IANNONE

Motivated by recent works on the role of the holographic principle in cosmology, we relate a class of second-order Ricci invariants to the IR cutoff characterizing the holographic dark energy density. The choice of second-order invariants provides an invariant way to account the problem of causality for the correct cosmological cutoff, since the presence of event horizons is not an a priori assumption. We find that these models work fairly well, by fitting the observational data, through a combined cosmological test with the use of SNeIa, BAO and CMB. This class of models is also able to overcome the fine-tuning and coincidence problems. Finally, to make a comparison with other recent models, we adopt the statistical tests AIC and BIC.


1975 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
pp. 254-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Giles ◽  
Gerald C. Wright

Professional journals are central in our professional lives. They are a primary means of communicating new ideas and research findings to other political scientists, and hence help record, however haltingly, our collective progress in understanding the political world. In a business where one's academic contribution is frequently taken as a tally of publications, the journals also function as an important instrument of professional advancement. Counts of vitae entries, however, seem to be generally weighted by judgements of quality; but the quality assessed quite often appears to be of the journal in which an article appears rather than the quality of the specific article. It is interesting therefore, and perhaps prudent to consider how the community of political scientists evaluate the journals in which we publish. This short note presents some data on this question.Our data were gathered from questionnaires mailed in April 1974 to a sample of 515 political scientists affiliated with Ph.D. granting institutions. The number of usable returned questionnaires is 255 for a response rate of 50 percent. Respondents were asked to rate 63 journals presented alphabetically with additional space provided for the rating of journals not included on the list. The respondents were instructed to rate each journal in terms of the general quality of its articles. The rating scale ranged from 0 to 10 with 0 = poor, 2 = fair, 4 = adequate, 6 = good, 8 = very good, and 10 = outstanding. Respondents were asked only to rate those journals with which they were familiar. In addition to the ratings, information was also gathered on the age, academic rank, academic affiliation, graduate school, recent journal publication information, and areas of professional interest of the respondents.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10131
Author(s):  
Jonas Tebbe ◽  
Emily Humble ◽  
Martin Adam Stoffel ◽  
Lisa Johanna Tewes ◽  
Caroline Müller ◽  
...  

Replication studies are essential for evaluating the validity of previous research findings. However, it has proven challenging to reproduce the results of ecological and evolutionary studies, partly because of the complexity and lability of many of the phenomena being investigated, but also due to small sample sizes, low statistical power and publication bias. Additionally, replication is often considered too difficult in field settings where many factors are beyond the investigator’s control and where spatial and temporal dependencies may be strong. We investigated the feasibility of reproducing original research findings in the field of chemical ecology by performing an exact replication of a previous study of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella). In the original study, skin swabs from 41 mother-offspring pairs from two adjacent breeding colonies on Bird Island, South Georgia, were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seals from the two colonies differed significantly in their chemical fingerprints, suggesting that colony membership may be chemically encoded, and mothers were also chemically similar to their pups, hinting at the possible involvement of phenotype matching in mother-offspring recognition. In the current study, we generated and analyzed chemical data from a non-overlapping sample of 50 mother-offspring pairs from the same two colonies 5 years later. The original results were corroborated in both hypothesis testing and estimation contexts, with p-values remaining highly significant and effect sizes, standardized between studies by bootstrapping the chemical data over individuals, being of comparable magnitude. However, exact replication studies are only capable of showing whether a given effect can be replicated in a specific setting. We therefore investigated whether chemical signatures are colony-specific in general by expanding the geographic coverage of our study to include pups from a total of six colonies around Bird Island. We detected significant chemical differences in all but a handful of pairwise comparisons between colonies. This finding adds weight to our original conclusion that colony membership is chemically encoded, and suggests that chemical patterns of colony membership not only persist over time but can also be generalized over space. Our study systematically confirms and extends our previous findings, while also implying more broadly that spatial and temporal heterogeneity need not necessarily negate the reproduction and generalization of ecological research findings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Saman Fatima ◽  
Roshan Luqman

Purpose- The article aims to study and explore the effect of market learning on management innovation along with exploring the role of knowledge integration as a mediator in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. Design/Methodology- The data comprised 215 respondents from the hospitality industry, and it was gathered through a questionnaire containing 22 items, including four demographical items. The gathered data was utilized to validate our model empirically through statistical tests. Findings- Research findings reveal that management innovation is driven by market learning, and significant relationships exist between market learning, knowledge integration, and management innovation. The mediating role of knowledge integration also exists significantly between management innovation and market learning. Novelty – Knowledge integration about management innovation and market learning is a novel contribution, and findings suggest that its effect on this model is significant. Practical Implications- Successful organizations include knowledge integration and management innovation as a critical part of their culture as these variables boost the firm’s productivity and employee participation, and both are found to be driven by market learning. The managers can make an effort to enhance market learning and improve the firm’s overall performance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Tebbe ◽  
Emily Humble ◽  
Martin A. Stoffel ◽  
Lisa J. Tewes ◽  
Caroline Müller ◽  
...  

AbstractReplication studies are essential for assessing the validity of previous research findings and for probing their generality. However, it has proven challenging to reproduce the results of ecological and evolutionary studies, partly because of the complexity and lability of many of the phenomena being investigated, but also due to small sample sizes, low statistical power and publication bias. Additionally, replication is often considered too difficult in field settings where many factors are beyond the investigator’s control and where spatial and temporal dependencies may be strong. We investigated the feasibility of reproducing original research findings in the field of chemical ecology by attempting to replicate a previous study by our team on Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella). In the original study, skin swabs from 41 mother-offspring pairs from two adjacent breeding colonies on Bird Island, South Georgia, were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seals from the two colonies differed significantly in their chemical fingerprints, suggesting that colony membership may be chemically encoded, and mothers were also chemically similar to their pups, implying that phenotype matching may be involved in mother-offspring recognition. Here, we generated and analysed comparable chemical data from a non-overlapping sample of 50 mother-offspring pairs from the same two colonies five years later. The original results were corroborated in both hypothesis testing and estimation contexts, with p-values remaining highly significant and effect sizes, standardized between studies by bootstrapping the chemical data over individuals, being of comparable magnitude. We furthermore expanded the geographic coverage of our study to include pups from a total of six colonies around Bird Island. Significant chemical differences were observed in the majority of pairwise comparisons, indicating not only that patterns of colony membership persist over time, but also that chemical signatures are colony-specific in general. Our study systematically confirms and extends our previous findings, while also implying that temporal and spatial heterogeneity need not necessarily negate the reproduction and generalization of ecological research findings.


Methodology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Gerich ◽  
Roland Lehner

Although ego-centered network data provide information that is limited in various ways as compared with full network data, an ego-centered design can be used without the need for a priori and researcher-defined network borders. Moreover, ego-centered network data can be obtained with traditional survey methods. However, due to the dynamic structure of the questionnaires involved, a great effort is required on the part of either respondents (with self-administration) or interviewers (with face-to-face interviews). As an alternative, we will show the advantages of using CASI (computer-assisted self-administered interview) methods for the collection of ego-centered network data as applied in a study on the role of social networks in substance use among college students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Mustaqim - Mustaqim

Abstract. The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of Panglima Laot in the management of fishery resources in Sabang Island. To be able to understand the fisheries management that involves the role of the community in the form of local institutions, a series in-depth interview, observation, as well as literature were successfully carried out to local fishery community. Since this study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative method, the data collection was analysed using phenomenological approach and critical interpretation process to see the validity and reliability of the research findings.  Referring to previous research evidence, the results show that the presence of Panglima Laot has played an important role in providing information, invitation, supervision and participation in the management of fishery resources. In addition, the role of Panglima Laot in the management of fishery resources includes carrying out customs, assisting the government, resolving conflicts in the community, preventing illegal fishing, preserving the coastal environment and fighting for the living standards of fishermen is very influential both in centralization and decentralization era.  Therefore, these findings can be categorized as a useful information for any party working in field of fishery program. 


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Krishna Poudel

Mountains have distinct geography and are dynamic in nature compared to the plains. 'Verticality' and 'variation' are two fundamental specificities of the mountain geography. They possess distinct temporal and spatial characteristics in a unique socio-cultural setting. There is an ever increasing need for spatial and temporal data for planning and management activities; and Geo Information (GI) Science (including Geographic Information and Earth Observation Systems). This is being recognized more and more as a common platform for integrating spatial data with social, economic and environmental data and information from different sources. This paper investigates the applicability and challenges of GISscience in the context of mountain geography with ample evidences and observations from the mountain specific publications, empirical research findings and reports. The contextual explanation of mountain geography, mountain specific problems, scientific concerns about the mountain geography, advances in GIScience, the role of GIScience for sustainable development, challenges on application of GIScience in the contexts of mountains are the points of discussion. Finally, conclusion has been made with some specific action oriented recommendations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
Im Sik Cho ◽  
Blaž Križnik

Sharing practices are an important part of urban life. This article examines the appropriation of alleys as communal space to understand how sharing practices are embedded in localities, how communal space is constituted and maintained, and how this sustains communal life. In this way, the article aims to understand the spatial dimension of sharing practices, and the role of communal space in strengthening social relationship networks and urban sustainability. Seowon Maeul and Samdeok Maeul in Seoul are compared in terms of their urban regeneration approaches, community engagement in planning, street improvement, and the consequences that the transformation had on the appropriation of alleys as communal space. The research findings show that community engagement in planning is as important as the provision of public space if streets are to be appropriated as communal space. Community engagement has changed residents' perception and use of alleys as a shared resource in the neighbourhood by improving their capacity to act collectively and collaborate with other stakeholders in addressing problems and opportunities in cities.


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