Is the political slant of psychology research related to scientific replicability?

Social science is a field predominantly composed of liberals, and critics have argued that this liberal representation may reduce the robustness of research by embedding liberal values into the research and peer-review process. In an adversarial collaboration, we examined whether the ideological slant of research findings in psychology is associated with lower rates of scientific replicability. We analyzed 194 original psychology articles that had been subject to a later replication attempt (with a total sample of 1,331,413 participants across replications) by having psychology doctoral students (Study 1) and an online sample of U.S. residents (Study 2), from across the political spectrum, code the ideological slant (liberal vs. conservative) of the original research abstracts. The methods and analyses for both studies were pre-registered. In both studies, the liberal or conservative slant of the original research was not associated with whether or not the results successfully replicated: less than 2% of the variance in replication success was explained by ideological slant. The results remained consistent regardless of the ideology of the coder. Further, ideological slant was unrelated to both subsequent citation patterns and the original study effect size, and not consistently related to the original study sample size. However, we found weak evidence that more ideological research (regardless of ideology) was less replicable, and strong evidence that variables related to statistical robustness were consistent predictors of replication success. We discuss the implications for social science, politics, and replicability.

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Is the Political Slant of Psychology Research Related to Scientific Replicability?

Perspectives on Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/1745691620924463 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (6) ◽

pp. 1310-1328

Author(s):

Diego A. Reinero ◽

Julian A. Wills ◽

William J. Brady ◽

Peter Mende-Siedlecki ◽

Jarret T. Crawford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Science ◽

Doctoral Students ◽

Research Process ◽

The Political ◽

Original Research ◽

Psychology Research ◽

Research Findings ◽

Psychology Doctoral Students ◽

Political Spectrum ◽

Psychology Doctoral

Social science researchers are predominantly liberal, and critics have argued this representation may reduce the robustness of research by embedding liberal values into the research process. In an adversarial collaboration, we examined whether the political slant of research findings in psychology is associated with lower rates of scientific replicability. We analyzed 194 original psychology articles reporting studies that had been subject to a later replication attempt ( N = 1,331,413 participants across replications) by having psychology doctoral students (Study 1) and an online sample of U.S. residents (Study 2) from across the political spectrum code the political slant (liberal vs. conservative) of the original research abstracts. The methods and analyses were preregistered. In both studies, the liberal or conservative slant of the original research was not associated with whether the results were successfully replicated. The results remained consistent regardless of the ideology of the coder. Political slant was unrelated to both subsequent citation patterns and the original study’s effect size and not consistently related to the original study’s sample size. However, we found modest evidence that research with greater political slant—whether liberal or conservative—was less replicable, whereas statistical robustness consistently predicted replication success. We discuss the implications for social science, politics, and replicability.

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"Oh, No. Women?" Student Research Projects

News for Teachers of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0197901900003846 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 6-8

Author(s):

Sue Tolleson Rinehart ◽

M. Catalano ◽

S. Gonzalez ◽

A. White ◽

R. King ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Political System ◽

Field Testing ◽

The Political ◽

Original Research ◽

American Government ◽

Instructional Units ◽

Practical Research ◽

Socialization Processes ◽

Research Problems ◽

Research Findings

This article serves two purposes. It is an account of field testing two instructional units in the APSA text series “Citizenship and Change: Women and American Politics” and it is a report of original research findings produced by students who used the units. In the course of reading about the changing place of American women in the political System and then researching questions raised by their reading, students surprised themselves. They learned to evaluate their own attitudes and the socialization processes leading to them, while they found that they could tackle practical research problems successfully.GINT 202, Policies and Functions of American Government, is a course which I have treated as an “introductory seminar” on important policy questions and the political system's response to them.

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The Education of Research Psychologists in Sweden

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027//1016-9040.8.1.34 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 34-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Knut Larsson ◽

Josef Frischer

Keyword(s):

Social Science ◽

Doctoral Students ◽

Doctoral Programs ◽

Science Department ◽

Research Education ◽

The Core ◽

Social Science Department ◽

Learning Alliance ◽

Laissez Faire ◽

The Government

The education of researchers in Sweden is regulated by a nationwide reform implemented in 1969, which intended to limit doctoral programs to 4 years without diminishing quality. In an audit performed by the government in 1996, however, it was concluded that the reform had failed. Some 80% of the doctoral students admitted had dropped out, and only 1% finished their PhD degree within the stipulated 4 years. In an attempt to determine the causes of this situation, we singled out a social-science department at a major Swedish university and interviewed those doctoral students who had dropped out of the program. This department was found to be representative of the nationwide figures found in the audit. The students interviewed had all completed at least 50% of their PhD studies and had declared themselves as dropouts from this department. We conclude that the entire research education was characterized by a laissez-faire attitude where supervisors were nominated but abdicated. To correct this situation, we suggest that a learning alliance should be established between the supervisor and the student. At the core of the learning alliance is the notion of mutually forming a platform form which work can emerge in common collaboration. The learning alliance implies a contract for work, stating its goals, the tasks to reach these goals, and the interpersonal bonding needed to give force and endurance to the endeavor. Constant scrutiny of this contract and a mutual concern for the learning alliance alone can contribute to its strength.

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