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Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science

  • Joanna E. Anderson
  • , Alexander A. Aarts
  • , Christopher J. Anderson
  • , Peter R. Attridge
  • , Angela Attwood
  • , Jordan Axt
  • , Molly Babel
  • , Štěpán Bahník
  • , Erica Baranski
  • , Michael Barnett-Cowan
  • , Elizabeth Bartmess
  • , Jennifer Beer
  • , Raoul Bell
  • , Heather Bentley
  • , Leah Beyan
  • , Grace Binion
  • , Denny Borsboom
  • , Annick Bosch
  • , Frank A. Bosco
  • , Sara D. Bowman
  • Mark J. Brandt, Erin Braswell, Hilmar Brohmer, Benjamin T. Brown, Kristina Brown, Jovita Brüning, Ann Calhoun-Sauls, Shannon P. Callahan, Elizabeth Chagnon, Jesse Chandler, Christopher R. Chartier, Felix Cheung, Cody D. Christopherson, Linda Cillessen, Russ Clay, Hayley Cleary, Mark D. Cloud, Michael Conn, Johanna Cohoon, Simon Columbus, Andreas Cordes, Giulio Costantini, Leslie D Cramblet Alvarez, Ed Cremata, Jan Crusius, Jamie DeCoster, Michelle A. DeGaetano, Nicolás Delia Penna, Bobby Den Bezemer, Marie K. Deserno, Olivia Devitt, Laura Dewitte, David G. Dobolyi, Geneva T. Dodson, M. Brent Donnellan, Ryan Donohue, Rebecca A. Dore, Angela Dorrough, Anna Dreber, Michelle Dugas, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Kayleigh Easey, Sylvia Eboigbe, Casey Eggleston, Jo Embley, Sacha Epskamp, Timothy M. Errington, Vivien Estel, Frank J. Farach, Jenelle Feather, Anna Fedor, Belén Fernández-Castilla, Susann Fiedler, James G. Field, Stanka A. Fitneva, Taru Flagan, Amanda L. Forest, Eskil Forsell, Joshua D. Foster, Michael C. Frank, Rebecca S. Frazier, Heather Fuchs, Philip Gable, Jeff Galak, Elisa Maria Galliani, Anup Gampa, Sara Garcia, Douglas Gazarian, Elizabeth Gilbert, Roger Giner-Sorolla, Andreas Glöckner, Lars Goellner, Jin X. Goh, Rebecca Goldberg, Patrick T. Goodbourn, Shauna Gordon-McKeon, Bryan Gorges, Jessie Gorges, Justin Goss, Jesse Graham, James A. Grange, Jeremy Gray, Chris Hartgerink, Joshua Hartshorne, Fred Hasselman, Timothy Hayes, Emma Heikensten, Felix Henninger, John Hodsoll, Taylor Holubar, Gea Hoogendoorn, Denise J. Humphries, Cathy O Y Hung, Nathali Immelman, Vanessa C. Irsik, Georg Jahn, Frank Jäkel, Marc Jekel, Magnus Johannesson, Larissa G. Johnson, David J. Johnson, Kate M. Johnson, William J. Johnston, Kai Jonas, Jennifer A. Joy-Gaba, Heather Barry Kappes, Kim Kelso, Mallory C. Kidwell, Seung Kyung Kim, Matthew Kirkhart, Bennett Kleinberg, Goran Knežević, Franziska Maria Kolorz, Jolanda J. Kossakowski, Robert Wilhelm Krause, Job Krijnen, Tim Kuhlmann, Yoram K. Kunkels, Megan M. Kyc, Calvin K. Lai, Aamir Laique, Daniël Lakens, Kristin A. Lane, Bethany Lassetter, Ljiljana B. Lazarević, Etienne P. Le Bel, Key Jung Lee, Minha Lee, Kristi Lemm, Carmel A. Levitan, Melissa Lewis, Lin Lin, Stephanie Lin, Matthias Lippold, Darren Loureiro, Ilse Luteijn, Sean MacKinnon, Heather N. Mainard, Denise C. Marigold, Daniel P. Martin, Tylar Martinez, E. J. Masicampo, Josh Matacotta, Maya Mathur, Michael May, Nicole Mechin, Pranjal Mehta, Johannes Meixner, Alissa Melinger, Jeremy K. Miller, Mallorie Miller, Katherine Moore, Marcus Möschl, Matt Motyl, Stephanie M. Müller, Marcus Munafo, Koen I. Neijenhuijs, Taylor Nervi, Gandalf Nicolas, Gustav Nilsonne, Brian A. Nosek*, Michèle B. Nuijten, Catherine Olsson, Colleen Osborne, Lutz Ostkamp, Misha Pavel, Ian S. Penton-Voak, Olivia Perna, Cyril Pernet, Marco Perugini, R. Nathan Pipitone, Michael Pitts, Franziska Plessow, Jason M. Prenoveau, Rima Maria Rahal, Kate A. Ratliff, David Reinhard, Frank Renkewitz, Ashley A. Ricker, Anastasia Rigney, Andrew M. Rivers, Mark Roebke, Abraham M. Rutchick, Robert S. Ryan, Onur Sahin, Anondah Saide, Gillian M. Sandstrom, David Santos, Rebecca Saxe, René Schlegelmilch, Kathleen Schmidt, Sabine Scholz, Larissa Seibel, Dylan Faulkner Selterman, Samuel Shaki, William B. Simpson, H. Colleen Sinclair, Jeanine L M Skorinko, Agnieszka Slowik, Joel S. Snyder, Courtney Soderberg, Carina Sonnleitner, Nick Spencer, Jeffrey R. Spies, Sara Steegen, Stefan Stieger, Nina Strohminger, Gavin B. Sullivan, Thomas Talhelm, Megan Tapia, Anniek Te Dorsthorst, Manuela Thomae, Sarah L. Thomas, Pia Tio, Frits Traets, Steve Tsang, Francis Tuerlinckx, Paul Turchan, Milan Valášek, Anna E. Van't Veer, Robbie Van Aert, Marcel Van Assen, Riet Van Bork, Mathijs Van De Ven, Don Van Den Bergh, Marije Van Der Hulst, Roel Van Dooren, Johnny Van Doorn, Daan R. Van Renswoude, Hedderik Van Rijn, Wolf Vanpaemel, Alejandro Vásquez Echeverría, Melissa Vazquez, Natalia Velez, Marieke Vermue, Mark Verschoor, Michelangelo Vianello, Martin Voracek, Gina Vuu, Eric Jan Wagenmakers, Joanneke Weerdmeester, Ashlee Welsh, Erin C. Westgate, Joeri Wissink, Michael Wood, Andy Woods, Emily Wright, Sining Wu, Marcel Zeelenberg, Kellylynn Zuni
*Corresponding author for this work
  • Open Science Collaboration
  • Defence Research and Development Canada
  • Southern New Hampshire University
  • Georgia Gwinnett College
  • University of Bristol
  • University of Virginia
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of Würzburg
  • University of California Office of the President
  • University of Waterloo
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
  • University of Oregon
  • Academic Medical Center
  • Radboud University Medical Center
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Center for Open Science Charlottesville
  • Tilburg University
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • Belmont Abbey College
  • UC Davis
  • University of Maryland, College Park
  • Aptima
  • Ashland University
  • The University of Hong Kong
  • Southern Oregon University
  • City University of New York
  • Lock Haven University
  • University of Göttingen
  • University of Milan
  • Adams State University
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Cologne
  • Australian National University
  • KU Leuven
  • Texas A&M University
  • Elmhurst College
  • Max Planck Institute for Research On Collective Goods
  • Stockholm School of Economics
  • University of Kent
  • University of Erfurt
  • Prometheus Research
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking
  • Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
  • Queen's University Kingston
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • University of South Alabama
  • Stanford University
  • University of Alabama
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • University of Padova
  • Universidad Nacional de Asunción
  • Bard College
  • University of Siegen
  • Northeastern University
  • Mississippi State University
  • University of Sydney
  • Hampshire College
  • Colorado State University
  • Keele University
  • Michigan State University
  • Behavioral Science Institute
  • University of Koblenz-Landau
  • King's College London
  • University of Winchester
  • University of Nevada, Reno
  • University of Lübeck
  • Osnabrück University
  • University of Birmingham
  • The University of Chicago
  • The London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Loyola College in Maryland
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  • Universitat Bonn
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  • Willamette University
  • Arcadia University
  • Technische Universität Dresden
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
  • William and Mary
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Columbia University
  • University of Edinburgh
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Florida
  • Wright State University
  • The California State University
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Business School
  • University of Groningen
  • Ariel University Center of Samaria
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • University of Vienna
  • Duke University
  • Coventry University
  • Open University of the Netherlands
  • City University of Hong Kong
  • Jacksonville University
  • TIBER (Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research)
  • External unknown
  • Universidad de la República
  • University of Oxford

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Reproducibility is a defining feature of science, but the extent to which it characterizes current research is unknown. We conducted replications of 100 experimental and correlational studies published in three psychology journals using high-powered designs and original materials when available. Replication effects were half the magnitude of original effects, representing a substantial decline. Ninety-seven percent of original studies had statistically significant results. Thirty-six percent of replications had statistically significant results; 47% of original effect sizes were in the 95% confidence interval of the replication effect size; 39% of effects were subjectively rated to have replicated the original result; and if no bias in original results is assumed, combining original and replication results left 68% with statistically significant effects. Correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberaac4716
Number of pages9
JournalScience
Volume349
Issue number6251
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Aug 2015

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