Why Null Results Rarely See the Light of Day. Mervis, J. 345(6200):992. Paper doi abstract bibtex A team at Stanford University reports online this week in Science that scientists are unlikely to even write up an experiment that produces so-called null results. A study of 221 survey-based experiments funded by the TESS (Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences) program at the National Science Foundation has found that almost two-thirds of the experiments yielding null findings are stuck in a file drawer rather than being submitted to a journal, and only 21\,% are published. In contrast, 96\,% of the experiments that yield strong results are written up, and 62\,% of them are published. Such practices by researchers can skew the literature and lead to wasteful duplication, the authors argue. To combat the problem, the authors call for a social science registry that would contain all such data, as well as descriptions of the methodology used to analyze the results.
@article{mervisWhyNullResults2014,
title = {Why Null Results Rarely See the Light of Day},
author = {Mervis, Jeffrey},
date = {2014-08},
journaltitle = {Science},
volume = {345},
pages = {992},
issn = {1095-9203},
doi = {10.1126/science.345.6200.992},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.345.6200.992},
abstract = {A team at Stanford University reports online this week in Science that scientists are unlikely to even write up an experiment that produces so-called null results. A study of 221 survey-based experiments funded by the TESS (Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences) program at the National Science Foundation has found that almost two-thirds of the experiments yielding null findings are stuck in a file drawer rather than being submitted to a journal, and only 21\,\% are published. In contrast, 96\,\% of the experiments that yield strong results are written up, and 62\,\% of them are published. Such practices by researchers can skew the literature and lead to wasteful duplication, the authors argue. To combat the problem, the authors call for a social science registry that would contain all such data, as well as descriptions of the methodology used to analyze the results.},
keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13340361,publication-bias,publish-or-perish,research-management,science-ethics,scientific-communication},
number = {6200}
}
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