TY - JOUR
T1 - Questionable Research Practices in Experimental Communication Research: A Systematic Analysis From 1980 to 2013
AU - Matthes, Jörg
AU - Marquart, Franziska
AU - Naderer, Brigitte
AU - Arendt, Florian
AU - Schmuck, Desiree
AU - Adam, Karoline
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Questionable research practices (QRPs) pose a major threat to any scientific discipline. This article analyzes QRPs with a content analysis of more than three decades of published experimental research in four flagship communication journals: Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Media Psychology. Findings reveal indications of small and insufficiently justified sample sizes, a lack of reported effect sizes, an indiscriminate removal of cases and items, an increasing inflation of p-values directly below p <.05, and a rising share of verified (as opposed to falsified) hypotheses. Implications for authors, reviewers, and editors are discussed.
AB - Questionable research practices (QRPs) pose a major threat to any scientific discipline. This article analyzes QRPs with a content analysis of more than three decades of published experimental research in four flagship communication journals: Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Media Psychology. Findings reveal indications of small and insufficiently justified sample sizes, a lack of reported effect sizes, an indiscriminate removal of cases and items, an increasing inflation of p-values directly below p <.05, and a rising share of verified (as opposed to falsified) hypotheses. Implications for authors, reviewers, and editors are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84948702653&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19312458.2015.1096334
DO - 10.1080/19312458.2015.1096334
M3 - Article
SN - 1931-2458
VL - 9
SP - 193
EP - 207
JO - Communication Methods & Measures
JF - Communication Methods & Measures
IS - 4
ER -