Cognitive Science & Policy Hub // Vol. 12

Behavioral Economics Lab

The Nudge & Bias Lab — an interactive, citable directory of cognitive biases, peer-reviewed journals, and empirical nudge findings.

Methods & Replication

Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science

Open Science Collaboration (Brian A. Nosek et al.)

Science · 2015

Abstract

The landmark large-scale audit of reproducibility in psychology, quantifying how often published experimental findings hold up under direct, high-powered replication.

Methodology

A collaborative effort replicating 100 studies from three top psychology journals using high-powered, pre-registered protocols, assessing replication by statistical significance, effect size, and subjective judgment.

Findings

Only about 36–39% of replications produced statistically significant results, and replication effect sizes were on average roughly half the originals. Findings that were surprising or weakly powered replicated worst, catalyzing reforms in pre-registration and reporting across the behavioral sciences.

Applied nudge

Discount surprising, single-study effects heavily; anchor design decisions on well-replicated, pre-registered findings rather than novel results that make good headlines.

Citation

Open Science Collaboration. (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349(6251), aac4716.

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