Meta-analyses are no substitute for registered replications: a skeptical perspective on religious priming

Frontiers in Psychology

Michiel van Elk¹ 

关键词: religious priming;    prosocial behavior;    meta-analysis;    PET-PEESE;    Bayesian Bias Correction;    preregistration;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01365

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

According to a recent meta-analysis, religious priming has a positive effect on prosocial behavior (Shariff et al., 2015). We first argue that this meta-analysis suffers from a number of methodological shortcomings that limit the conclusions that can be drawn about the potential benefits of religious priming. Next we present a re-analysis of the religious priming data using two different meta-analytic techniques. A Precision-Effect Testing–Precision-Effect-Estimate with Standard Error (PET-PEESE) meta-analysis suggests that the effect of religious priming is driven solely by publication bias. In contrast, an analysis using Bayesian bias correction suggests the presence of a religious priming effect, even after controlling for publication bias. These contradictory statistical results demonstrate that meta-analytic techniques alone may not be sufficiently robust to firmly establish the presence or absence of an effect. We argue that a conclusive resolution of the debate about the effect of religious priming on prosocial behavior – and about theoretically disputed effects more generally – requires a large-scale, preregistered replication project, which we consider to be the sole remedy for the adverse effects of experimenter bias and publication bias.

【 授权许可】

CC BY