Jul 7, 2018 08:38 PM
https://undark.org/article/loss-of-confi...on-crisis/
EXCERPT: . . . But in many researchers’ minds, Carney’s change of heart and the pointed questions surrounding power pose research typifies the replication crisis that has dogged fields like social psychology for years. Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest that most published research findings are false. A 2016 survey by *Nature* of more than 1,500 scientists found that more than 70 percent of researchers failed to successfully reproduce another researcher’s work and more than half failed to reproduce their own. Psychology is one of the most affected disciplines, with studies suggesting that wearing red makes one more attractive, or that smiling makes people happier, proving difficult for follow-up researchers to reproduce.
Of course, some researchers have argued that the replication crisis is exaggerated. But even if that is the case, there really is no effective way for scientists to quickly and publicly inform colleagues that they are no longer confident in their published work. Public declarations like Carney’s are one way to go, but they are often difficult to track. So an ambitious new effort, motivated by Carney’s move, is encouraging psychologists to own up to shortcomings in their published work via a website in the form of official loss-of-confidence statements — published at a single online clearinghouse for such confessions called the Loss of Confidence Project.
The aim is to simplify how such statements are reported as opposed to the current process, in which researchers bicker in back-and-forth commentaries and rebuttals, says Julia Rohrer, who studies personality psychology at the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course in Berlin, Germany, and is one of three researchers working on the project. “People will defend their scientific claims until their death,” Rohrer said. “As scientists, we should be aware that people are often wrong.” Carney’s move, for example, was generally well-received by psychologists who welcomed her transparency, she noted....
MORE: https://undark.org/article/loss-of-confi...on-crisis/
EXCERPT: . . . But in many researchers’ minds, Carney’s change of heart and the pointed questions surrounding power pose research typifies the replication crisis that has dogged fields like social psychology for years. Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest that most published research findings are false. A 2016 survey by *Nature* of more than 1,500 scientists found that more than 70 percent of researchers failed to successfully reproduce another researcher’s work and more than half failed to reproduce their own. Psychology is one of the most affected disciplines, with studies suggesting that wearing red makes one more attractive, or that smiling makes people happier, proving difficult for follow-up researchers to reproduce.
Of course, some researchers have argued that the replication crisis is exaggerated. But even if that is the case, there really is no effective way for scientists to quickly and publicly inform colleagues that they are no longer confident in their published work. Public declarations like Carney’s are one way to go, but they are often difficult to track. So an ambitious new effort, motivated by Carney’s move, is encouraging psychologists to own up to shortcomings in their published work via a website in the form of official loss-of-confidence statements — published at a single online clearinghouse for such confessions called the Loss of Confidence Project.
The aim is to simplify how such statements are reported as opposed to the current process, in which researchers bicker in back-and-forth commentaries and rebuttals, says Julia Rohrer, who studies personality psychology at the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course in Berlin, Germany, and is one of three researchers working on the project. “People will defend their scientific claims until their death,” Rohrer said. “As scientists, we should be aware that people are often wrong.” Carney’s move, for example, was generally well-received by psychologists who welcomed her transparency, she noted....
MORE: https://undark.org/article/loss-of-confi...on-crisis/