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Study Finds Most Published Psychology Research To Be Unreliable

In an unique and innovative study conducted by research teams from around the world, a segment of the psychology world has claimed that of 100 studies published in prominent psychological journals, only 36 percent produced the same results documented in the original published study.

The results of the “Reproducibility Project” appeared in a Phys.org story written by a trio of psychologists who said their motive in trying to duplicate results was “a prerequisite for building scientific knowledge.”

That a study’s results are able to be repeated is part of the bedrock idea that true results must be observable, repeatable and demonstrable.

According to the authors of the study, that wasn’t the case with a majority of the psychology world’s recent studies.

Though these studies had significant results at the time of publishing, a repeat of the same studies had “alarmingly low” levels of significant results the second time around.

Only 36% reached statistical significance. This number is alarmingly low. Put another way, only around one-third of the rerun studies came out with the same results that were found the first time around.

Of particular importance is the fact that most published studies are “taken as gospel” when they come out — how much gospel can they be, the authors were quoted as saying, if they only produce the same results just one in three times?

The Atlantic pointed out that the skepticism of the study falls in line with the public’s poor perception of studies in the past few years.

Reporter Ed Yong wrote that the psychology world “has been recently rocked y several high-profile controversies.”

A few signs hinted that the reliable proportion might be unnervingly small. Psychology has been recently rocked by several high-profile controversies, including: the publication of studies that documented impossible effects like precognition  … some prominent cases of outright fraud.

More than 250 psychologists participated in project.

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