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Articles on Reproducibility

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After great popularity, the idea of power poses came under fire. Choreograph/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The idea that power poses boost your confidence fell from favor – but a new review of the research calls for a second look

For a while it was all the rage to adopt Wonder Woman’s famous stance and other body positions that allegedly pumped up your confidence – until more studies of the phenomenon failed to find the connection.
Preclinical research — the kind that takes place before testing on humans — often guides decisions about which potential treatments should continue to clinical trials. But attempts to replicate 50 studies found the odds of getting the same results were only about 50-50. (Pexels/Artem Podrez)

Major study shows the need to improve how scientists approach early-stage cancer research

Preclinical studies are an important part of biomedical research, often guiding future trials in humans. Failure to replicate research results suggests a need to increase the quality of studies.
Behind the scenes, natural history museums store biological samples from the field. Ryan Stephens

Museum specimens could help fight the next pandemic – why preserving collections is crucial to future scientific discoveries

Specimen preservation means researchers don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time they ask a new question, making it critical for the advancement of science. But many specimens are discarded or lost.
The research doesn’t say what some lawmakers suggest every time there’s a mass shooting. Fredrick Tendong/Unsplash

Stop blaming video games for mass killings

On the whole, results from psychology research studies don’t support a direct connection between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior.
Some studies don’t hold up to added scrutiny. PORTRAIT IMAGES ASIA BY NONWARIT/shutterstock.com

The replication crisis is good for science

Rising evidence shows that many psychology studies don’t stand up to added scrutiny. The problem has many scientists worried – but it could also encourage them to up their game.
Scientists are facing a reproducibility crisis. Y Photo Studio/shutterstock.com

How big data has created a big crisis in science

Science is in a reproducibility crisis. This is driven in part by invalid statistical analyses that happen long after the data are collected – the opposite of how things are traditionally done.
Wansink’s research showed plate size matters when it comes to how much we eat. rawpixel/Unsplash

Retraction of a journal article doesn’t make its findings false

The journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently retracted several papers by a leading researcher on food and consumption. What does this mean for the researcher’s findings?
Academic journals rely on peer review to support editors in making decisions about what to publish. from www.shutterstock.com

When to trust (and not to trust) peer reviewed science

There’s peer review – and then there’s peer review. With more knowledge you can dive in a little deeper and make a call about how reliable a science paper really is.
It may take time for a tiny step forward to show its worth. ellissharp/Shutterstock.com

Novelty in science – real necessity or distracting obsession?

Scientists are rewarded with funding and publications when they come up with innovative findings. But in the midst of a ‘reproducibility crisis,’ being new isn’t the only thing to value about research.
Science itself needs to be put under the microscope and carefully scrutinised to deal with its flaws. Nattapat Jitrungruengnij/Shutterstock

Science’s credibility crisis: why it will get worse before it can get better

We are observing two new phenomena. On one hand doubt is shed on the quality of entire scientific fields or sub-fields. On the other this doubt is played out in the open, in the media and blogosphere.
Opening up data and materials helps with research transparency. REDPIXEL.PL via Shutterstock.com

Research transparency: 5 questions about open science answered

Partly in response to the so-called ‘reproducibility crisis’ in science, researchers are embracing a set of practices that aim to make the whole endeavor more transparent, more reliable – and better.
Online tools are changing the way psychology research is conducted. Shutterstock

Psychology turns to online crowdsourcing to study the mind, but it’s not without its pitfalls

Tools like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk allow psychology researchers to recruit test subjects from around the world. But the system can also be exploited.
Experiment design affects the quality of the results. IAEA Seibersdorf Historical Images

Why isn’t science better? Look at career incentives

Embracing more rigorous scientific methods would mean getting science right more often than we currently do. But the way we value and reward scientists makes this a challenge.
Good science loses out when bad science gets the funding. Shutterstock/Looker Studio

We need to talk about the bad science being funded

New studies on the quality of published research shows we could be wasting billions of dollars a year on bad science, to the neglect of good science projects.

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