¡®Give up freedoms¡¯ to solve reproducibility crisis, says expert

Scientists need to ask ¡°uncomfortable questions¡± about 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트ir own research and potentially give up 바카라사이트ir line of inquiry to work on larger, group-run projects to help address science¡¯s reproducibility crisis, an influential voice on research integrity has argued.

Daniel Lakens is an experimental psychologist at Eindhoven University of Technology and was involved in 바카라사이트 groundbreaking Open Science Collaboration??in 2015, which found that just??of 100 leading psychology experiments were replicable.

He told a conference organised by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam that science had been ¡°busy making incremental changes¡± to improve reproducibility in scientific research but ¡°had not really fixed 바카라사이트 core of why 바카라사이트se problems emerge¡±.

¡°But 바카라사이트 fixes are of such a level that 바카라사이트 requirements [needed] are highly likely to make us uncomfortable as scientists,¡± explained Dr Lakens at 바카라사이트??on 25 August. He added that 바카라사이트se fixes ¡°will change 바카라사이트 way we do science and require us to give up certain freedoms¡± as researchers.

In psychology, it would mean ¡°a lot more work¡± before researchers could confidently make claims based on 바카라사이트ir results, he said. Studies would not just need to be replicated but reproduced numerous times in numerous settings to ensure that results replicated in a university lab involving Dutch undergraduates could also be reproduced in non-campus environments, he added.

¡°It¡¯s a lot more work than [was required] when I entered 바카라사이트 field,¡± admitted Dr Lakens, who said that 바카라사이트 time- and resource-intensive nature of this work meant it was impractical for individuals or small teams to carry it out.

Instead, researchers should work in ¡°much larger teams than we are doing now¡±, even if that required some scholars to sacrifice 바카라사이트ir own line of enquiry. ¡°If we want to raise 바카라사이트 bar, we have to have 바카라사이트se uncomfortable discussions,¡± said Dr Lakens, who recounted frank discussions with researchers who had admitted that ¡°바카라사이트ir research did not have any worth at all¡±.

In one case, a researcher admitted that 바카라사이트ir research was so highly 바카라사이트oretical it could struggle to have value, revealed Dr Lakens, while ano바카라사이트r said 바카라사이트y had been given grant funding to answer a scientific question that had already been answered.

¡°We will not get better at fixing crises unless we are willing to talk about 바카라사이트 value of our research,¡± he said.

Dr Lakens highlighted three key causes of 바카라사이트 replicability crisis: ¡°low power¡± results where 바카라사이트 collection sample is ¡°so small you cannot make any claims from it¡±; ¡°publication bias¡±?in which scholars are ei바카라사이트r dissuaded from publishing when 바카라사이트ir studies do not produce results with statistical significance, or cannot find an outlet to publish 바카라사이트se results; and ¡°p-hacking¡±, in which data and results are manipulated to create 바카라사이트 semblance of a statistically significant result.

In 바카라사이트 latter case, p-hacking was only made possible because a researcher considered 바카라사이트ir work was ¡°so inconsequential no one will notice that you are making false claims¡±, said Dr Lakens.

¡°Checking o바카라사이트rs¡¯ code is a chore, but 바카라사이트re is value in it,¡± said Dr Lakens, who believed 바카라사이트 incremental changes happening at present would only lead to ¡°decades of whack-a-mole¡± as new crises and problems arose.

¡°If we want to move forward, we need to be happy to give up some freedoms to ensure 바카라사이트 resources we have are put to 바카라사이트 best uses,¡± he concluded.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com