The RPCB was conceived to bring research rigour to such retrospective replication studies. This major contribution is centered around testing the boundary conditions of current theory and practice using conceptual, generalization, and extension replications. This behaviour could well be present, though rarely discussed, in prior studies. Scientists must redouble their efforts to find out why. In 2015, a group of 271 researchers published the results of their five-year effort to replicate 100 different experimental studies previously published in three top psychology journals. The replicators worked closely with the original researchers of each study in order to replicate the experiments as closely as possible. This would also lead the researcher to decision point 2. Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.". Bordacconi, Mats Joe, and MartinVins Larsen. While power calculations are best done in software, we provide a worked, simplified example. Hence, replication research designs often incur a trade-off between internal and external validity. However, the original vignettes were developed in the American context and were based around a mayors announcement to a medium-sized city. Understand the real reasons reproducibility reform fails. Scientific knowledge is bolstered when research designs have high validity. Specifically, we describe sample replication (repeat sample), within-study replication (repeat experiment) and between-study replication (repeat study) and how each can be used within field ecology. Replication is an important mechanism through which broad lessons for theory and practice can be drawn in the applied interdisciplinary social science field of public administration. Four replications were conducted. Grimmelikhuijsen Sephan, and Gregory A. Porumbescu. The authors further described various threats to validity and cautioned researchers to minimize them. Makel, Matthew, and Jonathan A. Plucker. Further replications extended the original study to explore the boundary conditions. How do you design an experiment to have genuine replication and not pseudoreplication? Replication: Summary of Main Issues and Decision Points. To conduct a replication, these materials had to be requested from the authors and translated meticulously. Replication in Science ( Read ) | Chemistry - CK12-Foundation They are guided by a clear hypothesis (or a set of hypotheses) derived from a well-specified theoretical perspective. This could, for example, involve using a different sample of public managers from the larger population of public managers. Offers guidelines to achieve high-quality replication: Is the focus of the replication an important finding? Reassessing best practices for reporting hypothesis-testing research, Journal of International Business Studies, Registered reports. . Generalization and extension replications use a different population while seeking to extend the original findings by adopting additional measurements and analyses. But, despite many attempts and tweaks, the replicating team couldnt make the reporter sufficiently active in the cells to be tracked4, so the replication attempt was stopped. Actually, we advise against referring to replications as successes or failures because these judgments can be highly subjective. Replications testing inside-out are likely to implement replications that incrementally change populations or measures and analyses [see Grimmelikhuijsen and Porumbescus (2017) replication of Van Ryzin (2013)]. The replication yielded similar results and reinforced the findings reported in the original study. In the applied social sciences, the context within which studies are conducted is considered to be a critical variable for the development of theory (Freese 2007; Jilke, Meuleman, and Van de Walle 2014). To test if a drug kills proliferating cells in a well compared to a control condition, you will need multiple drug and control wells, since the drug is applied on a per-well basis. However, for Van Ryzins (2013) replication, a universal claim was advanced, implying that the results from the original study and the replication would be comparable. Harder to resolve is the fact that what works in one lab might not work in another, possibly because of inherent variation or unrecognized methodological differences. Construct validity can be challenging. Public administration replication often aims to make more explicit the moderators that explain why replication results vary, but boundary conditions may apply to many other aspects of a study, such as substituting a similar stimulus to achieve a desired effect, testing the causeeffect relationship on a different population, moving the experiment to a different setting, or assessing the consistency of results over time. The same best practices we have suggested, or similar ones, can be used to more efficiently corroborate knowledge derived from nonexperimental and quasi-experimental research designs (Fabrigar and Wegener 2016). Information on the original materials may be available from the author(s). If the full details are unavailable or the costs of replication are prohibitively high, there are three options. 2015.A1.031.16A); City University of Hong Kong Department of Public Policy Conference grant and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Capacity Building grant; National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2017S1A3A2067636). Batches of items are then processed or treated. Comparison of Expectations and Performance Manipulations on Levels of Satisfaction in the Original Study and Replications. Third, an exact replication involves the same research procedures, measurement and analysis using the same population and context, but with a different sample of participants from that population. Finally, questions of construct validity are bound up with decision point 1 regarding whether the original study can be replicated, and decision point 7 concerning the interpretation of the replications results, which we now turn to. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. In applied statistics, a set of replicates obtained in a series of replications of the experiment or observations is considered as a sample from a much bigger population. Odit molestiae mollitia Nature (Nature) One variable that could be used for matching, blocking, or stratifying is the physical size of each dwelling. The findings from the replication can then be used in a moderated meta-analysis with individualism as the critical moderator. However, EDT has been successfully applied to information technology products in Hong Kong (Thong, Hong, and Tam 2006). As noted above, comparing an original study with a replication can be challenging because of differences in context. The RPCB studies were budgeted to cost US$1.3 million over three years. This is closely related to the issue of boundary conditions, which is elaborated in decision point 5. Errington, T. M. et al. This article contributes to the debate on replication in public administration and beyond by offering best practice recommendations for experimental replications with a goal of improving theory and practice. In either case, because the matching, blocking, or stratifying variables are correlated with the outcome, the power of the test to detect the effects of the T-1 treatments (each compared against the control condition) is increased relative to simply randomly assigning the T conditions across the N households. Decision point 1 was passed. An important and much-anticipated brace of research papers now show just how complicated, time-consuming and difficult it can be to conduct and interpret replication studies in cancer biology1,2. If any given experiment is repeated on a different day it will have slightly different results from the original. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication. Google Scholar. Challenges and contributions, We need to compare, but how? "Replication is a central tenet of science; its purpose is to confirm the accuracy of empirical findings, clarify the conditions under which an effect can be observed, and estimate the true effect size," begin the authors of "Investigating Variation in Replicability." The benefits of replication may include: But the project was funded by a philanthropic investment fund, Arnold Ventures in Houston, Texas. They include the requirement for blinding, randomization and statistically assessed sample sizes. Publishing neutral and negative findings: Moving away from biased publication practices. Moreover, rigorous research on boundary conditions will pay big dividends for public administration practice as researchers and practitioners advance the design science ambitions of our field. Statistical power is a major consideration when deciding what to infer from an experimental finding. These expectations are reinforced by the reward and promotion practices of universities, in which faculty are expected to publish in leading or high-impact journals that demand strong findings on innovative topics. In cross-cultural studies, bias has resulted from systemic differences in the measurement instruments (Poortinga 1989). Such practices have led some to argue that research articles contain many Type I errors in which false positives abound (Ioannidis 2005; van Witteloostuijn 2016). Power analysis indicated that the target response rate for the replication should be 600 subjects. When conducting a study or experiment, it is essential to have clearly defined operational definitions. 2014; Open Science Collaboration 2015) and we could also amass more replications by making a replication study a mandatory component of PhD programs. Difference & Examples. Table 1 identifies three broad themes that are discernable in the literature: types of replication, academic practices, and recommendations and guidance for the conduct of replication. Construct validity is important in any experimental replication, and particularly so when replications extend the original study to different populations. Apart from the three strategies just discussed, the introduction of covariates is standard practice in public administration. Some public administration experiments are well-designed. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Yet even when the internal validity of an experimental study is strong, its external validity is often weak. The number of subjects in each of these studies is irrelevant for testing this study-level hypothesis. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. Survey technologies permit simultaneous implementation of experiments across time and space (e.g., Qualtics). Researchers must ensure that the conceptual construct being measured is consistent in meaning across different settings and that it can be mapped onto a measurement scale in the same way (Jilke et al. The subjects were asked to view either low- or high-performance street cleanliness photographs. That is, at the specified level of significance and the specified effect size, the null of no effect will be rejected in 54% of trials. Most social and behavioral sciences are single disciplines with interdisciplinary interests, whereas public administration is an interdisciplinary discipline with many single interests. Drawing on knowledge from other disciplines, together with our experience in replicating several experiments on topics such as decision making, organizational rules, and governmentcitizen relationships, we provide an overview of the replication process. The third theme promotes the practice of replication. For instance, strata may be the type of dwelling: apartment/condominium, town home, or single-family home. Replicate: A replicate is the outcome of an experiment or observation obtained in course of its replication . George, Bert, SebastianDesmidt, Poul A. Nielsen, and MartinBaekgaard. Replicabillity the ability to obtain the same result when an experiment is repeated is foundational to science. How can we determine the number of replications of an experiment by For many decades, this has been textbook material, and it informs our decision points. Replication in Psychology Research - Verywell Mind - Know More. Live Examples of Sources Addressing Replication Practices. Tsang and Kwan (1999) called a replication with the same research procedures, measurements, analysis, population (although perhaps a different sample), and context an exact replication. Following Schmidt (2009), we have relabeled this a direct replication because an exact or literal replication is actually not possible. The original study used path analyses, so the minimum sample size required for power 0.95 was 76, based on MANOVA for repeated measures between factors. (3) Having high statistical power. Many threats to internal validity, such as attrition and history, occur during the implementation of a study. It is laudable that the press conference announcing the projects results included remarks and praise by the leaders of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. In any case, the goal is to make all relevant boundary conditions explicit because this permits an understanding of the accuracy of theoretical predicators for any context (Busse, Kach, and Wagner 2017, 578). Consider a situation where the effect of polluted stream water on fish lesions is to be studied. Matsumoto, David, and Fons. None of the 53 papers selected contained enough detail for the researchers to repeat the experiments. Sample size is also subject to diminishing returns, and excessively large samples can raise an ethical problem because they are wasteful and needlessly expose subjects to risk (Bacchetti et al. Therefore, the comparison between original and replicated results has been inconclusive. This approach is built into programme requirements: 38% of funds allocated for research programmes go towards such verification efforts5. Meier, Kenneth J., AmandaRutherford, and ClaudiaAvellaneda, eds. Does that mean that the experimenters conducted bad research or that, even worse, they lied or fabricated their data? Internet Explorer). The foundations for our best practice recommendations are drawn from the replication experiences on the topics reviewed and our experience in replicating field, laboratory, and survey experiments at the Laboratory for Public Management and Policy at City University of Hong Kong (e.g., Walker, Brewer, and James 2017). Godfrey, A. An Example of Replication of an Experiment for Increased - JSTOR Home Replicating the measurements taken on a set of samples. Scientific Method Steps in Psychology Research, Correlation Studies in Psychology Research, How to Write a Methods Section for a Psychology Paper, Types of Variables in Psychology Research, The Placebo Effect: Fake Treatment, Real Response, Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology, APA Code of Ethics: Principles, Purpose, and Guidelines, Daily Tips for a Healthy Mind to Your Inbox. Although the scope of public administration is not necessarily broader or more important than other disciplines, the nature of public administration is interdisciplinary and spans the social sciences. Why do we need replication in an experiment? 2023 Dotdash Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. What is: "Experimental Unit", "Replicate", "Total sample size We turned up 971 articles, of which the vast majority were replication studies. Finally, tests or measurements are conducted. BMC Neuroscience 11:5. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2202-11-5, [3] Lazic SE (2016). Currently, the field does not provide enough incentives for individual researchers to carry out and publish replication studies on a large enough scale. 2014;45(4):310-311. We then distill this knowledge into seven decision points that offer a clear set of best practices on how to design and implement replications in public administration. However, it may not be possible to replicate a study if the original materials are not available and sufficient. For each of the three strategies, the analysis must consider how the treatment was assigned, especially when the percentage assigned to a condition varies (Gerber and Green 2012). Genuine replication and pseudoreplication: what's - BMJ Blogs BMJ Blogs In public administration, one endemic threat to internal and conclusion validity is low statistical power. However, we have moved beyond Schmidts (2009, 91) argument that a direct replication is just a [r]epetition of an experimental procedure. A study is repeated at a different point in time to test whether the findings hold and whether the concepts are still applicable. If researchers want to allow for the possibility of publication bias (which would mean the estimates of are greater in magnitude than the population value), they can choose a smaller value of the effect size, , for the power calculation (Vazire 2016, 4). This provided access to all of the research materials needed for design and analysis and tacit knowledge on the implementation of the original study. Correction 16 December 2021: This article originally mischaracterized the RPCBs analysis of replication attempts. Makel, Matthew C., Jonathan A. Plucker, and BoydHegarty. St Jude Childrens Research Hospital has established an expansive and multicomponent initiative in translational neuroscience with a mission to und St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude). Under this type of replication, if the results are different from those reported in the original study, the discrepancies may be attributed to an altered research design and/or changes in the population. Is it beneficial to add advances in the literature since the publication of the focal study? [Z > 1.64 1.73] = 1 prob. Understanding the Effects of Disclosure and Deployment of Artificial Intelligence in Public Sector Recruitment, The Performance and Development of Deliberative Routines: A Practice-Based Ethnographic Study, About Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, About the Public Management Research Association, Best Practice Recommendations For Designing And Implementing A Replication, Meyer, van Witteloostuijn, and Beugelsdijk (2017), Filtenborg, Gaardboe, and Sigsgaard-Rasmussen (2017), Filtenborg, Gaardboe, and Sigsgaard-Rasmussen 2017, https://www.publicadministrationreview.com/guidelines/, https://journal-bpa.org/index.php/jbpa/transparency, http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=ijpsm, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic. By Kendra Cherry, MSEd An example of a direct replication was implemented by Grimmelikhuijsen and Porumbescu (2017) on Van Ryzin (2013). The Contingent and Modest Positive Effect of Targeted Transparency on Citizen Trust in Regulated Sectors, No Thanks, Dear AI! A direct replication could also involve a different sample of public managers, such as frontline workers, from a larger population of public managers. For our unconventional replication experiment, we used a fair coin and a single coin flip to attempt to replicate the effectiveness of VPA on lowering brain infarct volumes. What is the reason for the replication of experiments in - ResearchGate While some might be tempted to look at the results of such replication projects and assume that psychology is rubbish, many suggest that such findings actually help make psychology a stronger science. The replications of EDT and citizen satisfaction supported the theorized causal relationships (Filtenborg, Gaardboe, and Sigsgaard-Rasmussen 2017; Grimmelikhuijsen and Porumbescu 2017). As a collateral benefit, removing the successfailure classification from our replication terminology makes replications less threatening for the original authors and hence increases the likelihood that replication work will be undertaken. As resources for experiments grow, more experimental laboratories and research centers will become operational, creating opportunities for more extensive replication agendas. To avoid construct validity problems associated with translating English into traditional Chinese, all materials were prepared in English, which is widely spoken. EDT was selected for replication because it could better explain citizen satisfaction in a variety of locations and thus had the potential to become a valuable practical framework for governments. In addition to using household size, we could use the pretest electricity consumption as the matching, blocking, or stratifying variable. 1 This is mathematically identical to an ANOVA, but some will find it easier to interpret the findings (Angrist and Pischke 2009).8.