Why most psychological research findings are not even wrong
Anne Scheel's paper on how underspecified claims in psychology research make most findings impossible to evaluate or replicate.
Why most psychological research findings are not even wrong
Scheel, A. M. (2021, December 1). Why most psychological research findings are not even wrong. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8w2sd
most claims in the literature are so critically underspecified that attempts to empirically evaluate them are doomed to failure — they are not even wrong.
While attempting to compile a database of studies for her PhD, Anne Scheel found that for most studies it was nearly impossible to state formally what the researchers were trying to prove, much less describe whether they succeeded or not.
For example, a study on imitation in neonates: unless you can describe precisely what you mean and don’t mean by “imitation”, it’s nearly impossible to draw replicable conclusions.
Recommends as much as possible using only machine-determined criteria for studies.
via tweet
