Journal Data Sharing Policies and Statistical Reporting Inconsistencies in Psychology

Collabra: Psychology

Marcel A. L. M. Van Assen¹  le B. Nuijten²  Jelte M. Wicherts³  Jeroen Borghuis³  Michè³  Linda Dominguez-Alvarez³  Coosje L. S. Veldkamp⁴ 

[1] and Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht;Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg;Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg;Ecorys, Rotterdam

关键词: Statistical errors;    data sharing;    journal policy;    meta-research;   

DOI  :  10.1525/collabra.102

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: University of California Press

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we present three retrospective observational studies that investigate the relation between data sharing and statistical reporting inconsistencies. Previous research found that reluctance to share data was related to a higher prevalence of statistical errors, often in the direction of statistical significance (Wicherts, Bakker, & Molenaar, 2011). We therefore hypothesized that journal policies about data sharing and data sharing itself would reduce these inconsistencies. In Study 1, we compared the prevalence of reporting inconsistencies in two similar journals on decision making with different data sharing policies. In Study 2, we compared reporting inconsistencies in psychology articles published in PLOS journals (with a data sharing policy) and Frontiers in Psychology (without a stipulated data sharing policy). In Study 3, we looked at papers published in the journal Psychological Science to check whether papers with or without an Open Practice Badge differed in the prevalence of reporting errors. Overall, we found no relationship between data sharing and reporting inconsistencies. We did find that journal policies on data sharing seem extremely effective in promoting data sharing. We argue that open data is essential in improving the quality of psychological science, and we discuss ways to detect and reduce reporting inconsistencies in the literature.

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【 授权许可】

CC BY