scholarly journals Inoculating the public against misinformation about climate change: A replication study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Williams ◽  
Christina Bond
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Replication Study ◽  
Conservation Psychology ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Replication Crisis ◽  
Earth’S Climate

The Earth’s climate is changing due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Conservation psychology has the capacity to produce research that can inform efforts to modify human behavior to mitigate climate change. However, psychology has recently been facing a replication crisis: Several recent studies have found that the findings of many published psychological studies cannot be reproduced in independent replications. In response to this crisis, psychologists have begun to pursue practices that can improve the replicability and credibility of findings—for example, preregistering data collection and analysis plans before collecting data, and openly sharing data for re-analysis. However, open science practices such as these are not yet widely employed in conservation psychology. We argue that replicability is especially important in conservation psychology given the field’s focus on high stakes applied research. We provide an example of a preregistered replication (of van der Linden et al. 2017). van der Linden et al. reported that they were able to successfully “inoculate” participants against politically motivated misinformation about climate change by pre-emptively warning them of this misinformation. In our replication study, we preregistered hypotheses based on van der Linden et al’s study, along with a detailed data collection and analysis plan (available at https://osf.io/8ymj6/). Our replication study used a mixed between-within design, with data collected via Mechanical Turk (N = 792). We were able to replicate some (but not all) of van der Linden et al’s findings. Specifically, we found that providing information about the scientific consensus on climate change increased perceptions of scientific consensus, as did an inoculation intervention provided prior to provision of misinformation. However, we were unable to replicate their finding that an inoculation intervention counteracted the effect of misinformation to a greater extent than simply providing information about scientific consensus.

scholarly journals VETA: a Matlab toolbox for the collection and analysis of electromyography combined with transcranial magnetic stimulation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicko Jackson ◽  
Ian Greenhouse
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Data Visualization ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Simultaneous Recording ◽  
Invasive Approach ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Offline Processing

AbstractThe combination of electromyography (EMG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) offers a powerful non-invasive approach for investigating corticospinal excitability in both humans and animals. Acquiring and analyzing the data produced with this combination of tools requires overcoming multiple technical hurdles. Due in part to these technical hurdles, the field lacks standard routines for EMG data collection and analysis. This poses a problem for study replication and direct comparisons. Although software toolboxes already exist that perform either online EMG data visualization or offline analysis, there currently are no openly available toolboxes that flexibly perform both and also interface directly with peripheral EMG and TMS equipment. Here, we introduce Visualize EMG TMS Analyze (VETA), a MATLAB-based toolbox that supports simultaneous EMG data collection and visualization as well as automated offline processing and is specially tailored for use with motor TMS. The VETA toolbox enables the simultaneous recording of EMG, timed administration of TMS, and presentation of behavioral stimuli from a single computer. These tools also provide a streamlined analysis pipeline with interactive data visualization. Finally, VETA offers a standard EMG data format to facilitate data sharing and open science.

Preregistration and Registered Reports

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly D Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Phase I ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Scientific Process ◽  
Science Practices ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
One Step

Pre-registration and registered reports are two of the most promising open science practices for increasing transparency in the scientific process. Pre-registration involves publishing a timestamped record of a study design, ideally before data collection and analysis, so that research consumers can discern which analytic decisions were set a priori and which were changed after seeing data. Registered reports take the idea of pre-registration one step further, and provide peer review at the pre-registration stage. Researchers submit a Phase I manuscript that contains the introduction, background and context, and methods section of a study, and these Phase I manuscripts are peer reviewed. If reviewed positively, manuscripts are given in-principle acceptance, where the editors agree that if the researchers conduct the study as pre-registered--or document the deviations from their plan--the study will be published without regard for the direction or magnitude of findings. In this manner, studies are judged by whether they address important questions and use well-designed methods, not on the basis of reaching specific benchmarks for significance or effect size. This article illustrates the emerging range of approaches to pre-registration and registered reports with examples from a variety of studies and from the first special issue in educational research devoted to Registered Reports.PLEASE DO NOT CITE YET:This article is part of a forthcoming journal Special Issue on Open Science in Education and currently under review. Carly Robinson is NOT the correct author, so please do not cite this article until it is updated with the correct authors' names. If you are interested in citing this work please either (a) check back at this url later -- we anticipated that the correct authors' names will be included no later than February 2021, or (b) contact Carly Robinson ([email protected]) directly to see if the paper might be cited on an earlier time frame.

On the wonders of replication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristoffer Klevjer
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Large Impact ◽  
Method Section ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
Publishing Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
Replication Crisis

The lack of replicating research is not new, still the recent "replication crisis" has made a large impact in the social and life sciences which subsequently increased their replication efforts. Most scholars do agree on the need for solid, preregistered, direct replications. However, performing them is less common, after all, researchers have their own ideas! Underestimated is though, that replications are beneficial for science, the students and supervisors! As a part of my master's thesis I performed a direct replication – and this turned into one of the most educational parts of my whole psychology degree. It was an excellent introduction to the importance of a solid method section, to Open Science and preregistration. It changed the way I read and evaluate articles. I learned the distinction between confirmatory and exploratory hypotheses. It highlighted the need for strict adherence to data collection protocols. It taught me the publishing process in a nutshell by starting data collection only after my protocol and procedures was approved by external researchers. I argue that replication are beneficial for supervisors too. Students get a thorough introduction to said concepts, which increases confidence in their work (ethics) and trust in science. Replications are time-effective alternatives for bachelors students. Supervisors can exchange ideas with other supervisors as well as use this for networking In sum, science needs it, students like and learn from it, and it is convenient and helpful for supervisors. Next time: please pitch a replication project to your student!

scholarly journals Public Awareness of the Scientific Consensus on Climate

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence C. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
State Level ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
Abrupt Shifts

Questions about climate change elicit some of the widest political divisions of any items on recent U.S. surveys. Severe polarization affects even basic questions about the reality of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), or whether most scientists agree that humans are changing the Earth’s climate. Statements about scientific consensus have been contentious among social scientists, with some arguing for consensus awareness as a “gateway cognition” that leads to greater public acceptance of ACC, but others characterizing consensus messaging (deliberate communication about the level of scientific agreement) as a counterproductive tactic that exacerbates polarization. A series of statewide surveys, with nationwide benchmarks, repeated questions about the reality of ACC and scientific consensus many times over 2010 to 2016. These data permit tests for change in beliefs and polarization. ACC and consensus beliefs have similar trends and individual background predictors. Both rose gradually by about 10 points over 2010 to 2016, showing no abrupt shifts that might correspond to events such as scientific reports, leadership statements, or weather. Growing awareness of the scientific consensus, whether from deliberate messaging or the cumulative impact of many studies and publicly engaged scientists, provides the most plausible explanation for this rise in both series. In state-level data, the gap between liberal and conservative views on the reality of ACC did not widen over this period, whereas the liberal–conservative gap regarding existence of a scientific consensus narrowed.

DISSEMINATION AND USE OF INFORMATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY: A CASE STUDY OF FARMERS IN MALUGA AND CHIBELA VILLAGES IN SEMI-ARID CENTRAL TANZANIA

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Elia ◽  
Stephen Mutula ◽  
Christine Stilwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change And Variability ◽  
Semi Arid

This study was part of broader PhD research which investigated how access to, and use of, information enhances adaptation to climate change and variability in the agricultural sector in semi-arid Central Tanzania. The research was carried out in two villages using Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory and model to assess the dissemination of this information and its use by farmers in their adaptation of their farming practices to climate change and variability. This predominantly qualitative study employed a post-positivist paradigm. Some elements of a quantitative approach were also deployed in the data collection and analysis. The principal data collection methods were interviews and focus group discussions. The study population comprised farmers, agricultural extension officers and the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa project manager. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis whereas quantitative data were analysed to generate mostly descriptive statistics using SPSS.  Key findings of the study show that farmers perceive a problem in the dissemination and use of climate information for agricultural development. They found access to agricultural inputs to be expensive, unreliable and untimely. To mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and variability on farming effectively, the study recommends the repackaging of current and accurate information on climate change and variability, farmer education and training, and collaboration between researchers, meteorology experts, and extension officers and farmers. Moreover, a clear policy framework for disseminating information related to climate change and variability is required.

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