Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:58:33.738Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Scientific progress is like doing a puzzle, not building a wall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2018

Alexa M. Tullett  and
Simine Vazire
Alexa M. Tullett
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348. [email protected]://alexatullett.com
Simine Vazire
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California 95616. [email protected]://simine.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We contest the “building a wall” analogy of scientific progress. We argue that this analogy unfairly privileges original research (which is perceived as laying bricks and, therefore, constructive) over replication research (which is perceived as testing and removing bricks and, therefore, destructive). We propose an alternative analogy for scientific progress: solving a jigsaw puzzle.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e154
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crandall, C. S. & Sherman, J. W. (2016) On the scientific superiority of conceptual replications for scientific progress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 66:93–99. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.002.Google Scholar
Gelman, A. (2016b) The time-reversal heuristic – A new way to think about a published finding that is followed up by a large, preregistered replication (in context of Amy Cuddy's claims about power pose). Blog post. Available at: http://andrewgelman.com/2016/01/26/more-power-posing/.Google Scholar
Stroebe, W. & Strack, F. (2014) The alleged crisis and the illusion of exact replication. Perspectives on Psychological Science 9:59–71. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613514450.Google Scholar