Researchers have argued for centuries over two leading statistical approaches: Bayesian analysis and the Frequentist approach. Both holding their own complex (and convincing) reasoning, well-meaning researchers can all agree on the goal of their analyses: reaching conclusions with the least amount of bias and error. The war between Bayesians and Frequentists is likely far from […]
Scientific Practice
Let’s set the stage with a series of images. Each of these pictorial examples represents a different aspect of decision-making, which requires the ability to compare incoming stimuli quickly to behave appropriately. In the case of the flying stimuli in the first set of images, a human might be asked to categorize […]
Older adults are more motivated than younger adults to do well in lab studies. What does this mean for our understanding of cognitive aging? If you’re a psychologist who studies cognitive aging, chances are you recruit younger adults (18-22 years) from the college or university and older adults (65+ years) from the community and have […]
Should you have to be a data archeologist with open data? Have you ever come back to a dataset a few years after collecting it, and scratched your head over what Past You was thinking and what the variables and labels mean? Now, imagine it’s not Past You, but another researcher, and you are trying […]
At the Psychonomic Society Digital Event, Research in Time of Crisis, in May 2020, members contributed ideas on how to do “science without the drag.” That is, how do we produce, evaluate, and disseminate high-quality research to match the rapid pace of decision-making needed in the face of COVID-19? Below are the links to the […]
When confronted with the Black Death in the middle ages, leading authorities resorted to analysis of the position of the planets —Jupiter’s hostility against Mars features prominently— to explain the plague. Today, authorities rely mainly on science to explain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of this is borne out in countries such as […]
Academic peer review of scientific manuscripts often falls short. It invariably slows and sometimes prevents the publication of good research. And it sometimes leads to the distribution and amplification of flawed research. Prestigious journals sometimes publish research grounded on shaking theory that used weak measures and inappropriate analyses to reach dubious conclusions. Failings of peer […]
Psychological research could play a critical role in informing policies during times of crisis and uncertainty. However, as stated in a previous post by Patrick Forscher, Simine Vazire, and Farid Anvari during this digital event, issues with generalisability, replicability, and validity may limit the practical implications of our research. The problems of reliability are compounded […]
By now, you know about preprints, and I bet you’ve read some, too – perhaps a manuscript posted on PsyArXiv, BioRxiv, or MedRxiv. With the posting of unrefereed manuscripts now normalized in psychology and other fields, no longer must new findings gather dust while languishing in journal management systems, waiting for slow reviewers, a busy […]
The COVID-19 crisis has challenged all sectors of society, including science. The crisis demands an all-out scientific response if it is to be mastered with minimal damage. This means that we, as a community of scientists, need to think about how we can adapt to the moment in order to be maximally beneficial. How can […]