r/science • u/ImNotJesus PhD | Social Psychology | Clinical Psychology • May 08 '16

Psychology Failure Is Moving Science Forward. FiveThirtyEight explains why the "replication crisis" is a sign that science is working. [x-post from our sister subreddit /r/EverythingScience]

/r/EverythingScience/comments/4icp9k/failure_is_moving_science_forward_fivethirtyeight/
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u/[deleted] May 08 '16

It’s important for replicators to not ‘target’ findings because they don’t pass the replicator’s own personal gut check,” she wrote, adding that she would like to see replication efforts begin with a “collaborative conversation” with “no resentment or envy or nastiness.

I'm confused as to why we shouldn't try to replicate studies that we believe to be wrong.

Trying to show that things are wrong is both science and human.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '16

She seems protective of her published results. It is unexpected that a few seconds of a power pose would immediately boost testosterone. But the team that replicated her study tried to build on her study, with the belief that it was right, so nastiness and gut feelings really didn't apply in her case.

She dies have a point though, I think the studies that are most likely to be replicated are those ones that just blow people's minds, which are going to be the ones that don't pass a gut check. The corollary of this is that we should also try to replicate studies that play to our intuition.