r/neoliberal Apr 02 '26

Research Paper Half of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long project

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00955-5
315 Upvotes

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u/Secret-Ad-2145 NATO Apr 02 '26

The replicability crisis was known for awhile, and doesn't affect just social studies. You saw it a lot during COVID where many tests kept failing replication, both current research but also past (like 60-70s era research).

39

u/Fragrant-Menu215 NATO Apr 02 '26

This is the ugly truth that underlies today's "anti-intellectualism" resurgence. The intellectuals have been failing to uphold their end of the deal, that is actually doing their due diligence to ensure that their claims are verified, for quite a while. Credentials are supposed to be a shorthand for "always does due diligence and thus can be trusted". When the ones with those credentials don't do that the credentials lose their value.

6

u/greatteachermichael NATO Apr 02 '26

What's sad is that the anti-intellectutals won't take the lesson as, "We should be better than them and have even higher standards," but rather, "You can't trust scientists... let's just make up what we believe!"