scholarly journals Replicability in psychological research: a reflection

Author(s):  
Sharon Centeno-Leyva ◽  
Sergio Dominguez-Lara

Background: In recent years, psychological science has suffered a crisis of confidence that has been marked by the low rate of replicability demonstrated in collaborative projects that attempted to quantify this problem, evidencing the difficulty in making replications and the existence of a possible excess of false positives published in the scientific literature. Method: This opinion article aimed to review the panorama of the replicability crisis in psychology, as well as its possible causes. Conclusions: It began from the state of the replicability crisis, then some possible causes and their repercussions on the advancement of psychological science were highlighted, discussing various associated issues, such as individual biases on the part of researchers, the lack of incentives to replicability studies and the priority standards that journals would currently have for novel and positive studies. Finally, the existing alternatives to reverse this situation are mentioned, among them the opening to new statistical approaches, the restructuring of incentives, and the development of editorial policies that facilitate the means for replication.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryuju Hasegawa ◽  
Kanae Tada ◽  
Fumiya Yonemitsu ◽  
Ayumi Ikeda ◽  
Yuki Yamada ◽  
...  

In the midst of the current reproducibility crisis in psychology, pre-registration is considered a remedy to increase the reliability of psychological research. However, as pre-registration is an unconventional practice for most psychological researchers, they find it difficult to introduce pre-registration into their studies. In order to promote pre-registration, this article provides a detailed and practical step-by-step tutorial for beginners on pre-registration with the Open Science Framework. Furthermore, a typical example of the practical experience of beginners and its revisions are provided as supplementary material. Finally, we discuss various issues related to pre-registration, such as transparent research, registered reports, preprints, and open science education. We hope that this article will contribute to the improvement of reproducible psychological science in Japan.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
František Bartoš ◽  
Maximilian Maier

The replication crisis in psychology led to an increased concern regarding the falsediscovery rate (FDR) - the proportion of false positives findings among all significant findings. In this article, we compare two previously proposed solutions for decreasing the FDR: increasing statistical power and decreasing significance level α. First, we provide an intuitive explanation for α, power, and FDR to improve the understanding of these concepts. Then, we investigate the relationship between α and power to compare the efficiency of those solutions. We show that reducing α is more efficient than increasing power in reducing the FDR. We suggest that researchers interested in reducing the FDR should decrease α rather than increase power. This connects the literature on this topic and has implications for increasing the reproducibility of psychological science.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniella De Paula Chiesa ◽  
Mário Antônio Sanches ◽  
Daiane Priscila Simão-Silva

O estudo do Planejamento familiar, no contexto da bioética, abre-se para diversas perspectivas, entre elas a valorização dos seus diferentes atores. Situado neste contexto o artigo tem como objetivo identificar o perfil de gênero na produção científica sobre Planejamento Familiar no Brasil, entre 2000 e 2014, assim como a área de formação e especialização dos autores. Foram utilizadas metodologias que permitiram mapear o estado da arte do tema estudado, a partir de uma revisão da literatura. O resultado da pesquisa identifica que a produção científica sobre Planejamento Familiar no Brasil se compõe de perfil destacadamente feminino (71,76%). Dos 73 artigos analisados, 42 (57,53%) o foco do tema está direcionado à mulher assim como evidencia-se a área de ciências da saúde com maior concentração das publicações do tema.  Este aspecto da pesquisa abre para uma realidade complexa onde se buscam criticamente as razões para a pesquisa em Planejamento Familiar ter ênfase na mulher e ser um tema de relevância nas ciências da saúde.Palavras-chave: Produção científica, Planejamento Familiar, Gênero.  ABSTRACT: The study of Family Planning, in the context of bioethics, opens to diverse perspectives, among them the appreciation of their different agents. Situated in this context the article aims to identify the profile of gender in scientific literature on Family Planning in Brazil, between 2000 and 2014, as well as the area of training and specialization of the authors. Methodologies were used which allowed to map the State of the art of the subject studied, from a review of the literature. The results found identify that the scientific production on Family Planning in Brazil is formed with a outstandingly female profile (71,76%). Of the 73 articles examined, 42 (57.53%) the focus of the topic is directed to women as well as showing the health sciences area with highest concentration of publications. This aspect of the research opens to a complex reality where we seek critically the reasons for Research in Family Planning have emphasis on woman and be a topic of relevance in health sciences.Keywords: Scientific Production, Family Planning, Gender.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
scott lilienfeld ◽  
Josh Miller ◽  
Donald Lynam

When, if ever, should psychological scientists be permitted to offer professional opinions concerning the mental health of public figures they have never directly examined? This contentious question, which attracted widespread public attention during the 1964 U.S. presidential election involving Barry Goldwater, received renewed scrutiny during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, when many mental health professionals raised pointed questions concerning the psychiatric status of Donald Trump. Although the Goldwater Rule prohibits psychiatrists from offering diagnostic opinions on individuals they have never examined, no comparable rule exists for psychologists. We contend that, owing largely to the Goldwater Rule’s origins in psychiatry, a substantial body of psychological research on assessment and clinical judgment, including work on the questionable validity of unstructured interviews, the psychology of cognitive biases, and the validity of informant reports and of L (lifetime) data, has been overlooked in discussions of its merits. We conclude that although the Goldwater Rule may have been defensible several decades ago, it is outdated and premised on dubious scientific assumptions. We further contend that there are select cases in which psychological scientists with suitable expertise may harbor a “duty to inform,” allowing them to offer informed opinions concerning public figures’ mental health with appropriate caveats.


Author(s):  
Leah R. Warner ◽  
Stephanie A. Shields

Intersectionality theory concerns the interdependence of systems of inequality and implications for psychological research. Social identities cannot be studied independently of one another nor separately from the societal processes that maintain inequality. In this chapter we provide a brief overview of the history of intersectionality theory and then address how intersectionality theory challenges the way psychological theories typically conceive of the person, as well as the methods of data gathering and analysis customarily used by many psychologists. We specifically address two concerns often expressed by feminist researchers. First, how to reconcile the use of an intersectionality framework with currently-valued psychological science practices. Second, how intersectionality transforms psychology’s concern with individual experience by shifting the focus to the individual’s position within sociostructural frameworks and their social and political underpinnings. In a concluding section we identify two future directions for intersectionality theory: how psychological research on intersectionality can facilitate social activism, and current developments in intersectionality theory.


Author(s):  
Kristin A. Hancock ◽  
Douglas C. Haldeman

Psychology’s understanding of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people has evolved, become more refined, and impacted the lives of LGB people in profound ways. This chapter traces the history of LGB psychology from the nineteenth century to the present and focuses on major events and the intersections of theory, psychological science, politics, and activism in the history of this field. It explores various facets of cultural and psychological history that include the pathologizing of homosexuality, the rise of psychological science and the political movements in the mid-twentieth century, and the major shifts in policy that ensued. The toll of the AIDS epidemic on the field is discussed as is the impact of psychological research on national and international policy and legislation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Serra ◽  
S. Barruscotti ◽  
T. Dominioni ◽  
A. Zuccarini ◽  
P. Pedrazzoli ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Gergen

Extending early work on the limits of hypothesis testing, I propose that psychological explanations for behavior draw their intelligibility from tautology. A reliance on tautology is born of the impossibility for ostensively defining the explanans (e.g., the state of mind presumably giving rise to action). Thus, one makes psychological sense by explaining a given behavior in terms of a “miniaturized” form of itself. Further, because each definition of a mental term relies on another mental term for its meaning, we enter a condition of unbridled diffusion of definition. We may thus account for psychological explanations far removed from simple or transparent tautology. Through extended definitional sequences, we find that any given behavior can be explained by virtually any randomly drawn motive or trait. This includes otherwise counter-intuitive or paradoxical explanations. These developments bear importantly on the grounding assumptions for psychological research, mental and diagnostic testing, and psychotherapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Mārtiņš Spridzāns ◽  
Jans Pavlovičs ◽  
Diāna Soboļeva

Efficient use of educational technology and digital learning possibilities has always been the strategic area of high importance in border guards training at the State Border Guard College of Latvia. Recently, issues related to training during the Covid-19, have spurred and revived the discussion, topicality and practical need to use the potential of e-learning opportunities which brought up unexpected, additional, previously unsolved, unexplored, challenges and tasks to border guards training. New opportunities and challenges for trainers, learners and administration of training process both in online communication and learning administration contexts. In order to find out and define further e-learning development possibilities at the State Border Guard College the authors of this research explore the scientific literature on the current research findings, methodologies, approaches on developing interactive e-learning systems in educational contexts, particularly within the sphere of law enforcement. Based on scientific literature research findings authors put forward suggestions on improving the e-learning systems for border guards training.


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