Notes on Replication, Open Science, and Research Types

Replication & Reproducibility

• Replication is essential to evaluate conclusions; data and analyses can be accessed to reproduce results.
• Replicability concerns: many published studies fail to reproduce results; Open Science Collaboration ($2015$); Shrout & Rodgers ($2018$); Youyou et al. ($2023$).
• Two guiding principles:
  • Use larger sample sizes to ensure equivalence between groups; pool data across labs when a single lab can recruit few participants (e.g., infant research; neuroimaging). References in $2020$ include Gennetian & others ($2020$) and Szucs & Ioannidis ($2020$).
  • Be transparent and thorough in reporting methods to allow replication; provide public access to original data so others can repeat the statistical analyses.
• Applications: All three types of research—descriptive, correlational, and experimental—can address the same topic (e.g., intensely positive experiences in human functioning).

Applications of Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research

• All three types can address the same topic (descriptive, correlational, and experimental).
• Example domain: intensely positive experiences in human functioning.
• Maslow ($1971$) envisioned the healthiest, happiest people in the world as capable of high functioning.