Reframing the reproducibility crisis: using an error-statistical account to inform the interpretation of replication results in psychological research

Experimental psychology is said to be having a reproducibility crisis, marked by a low rate of successful replication. Researchers attempting to respond to the problem lack a framework for consistently interpreting the results of statistical tests, as well as standards for judging the outcomes of replication studies. In this paper I introduce an error-statistical framework for addressing these issues. I demonstrate how the severity requirement (and the associated severity construal of test results) can be used to avoid fallacious inferences that are complicit in the perpetuation of unreliable results. Researchers, I argue, must probe for error beyond the statistical level if they want to support substantive hypotheses. I then suggest how severity reasoning can be used to address standing questions about the interpretation of replication results.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Department dc:contributor.department

Philosophy

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Parker, Caitlin Grace

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Mayo, Deborah G.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Jantzen, Benjamin C.
• Patton, Lydia K.

• statistics
• replicability
• reproducibility
• psychology
• scientific inference

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:5587

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/52963