Philosophy of Science

Arrested Theory Development: The Misguided Distinction Between Exploratory and Confirmatory Research

Science progresses by finding and correcting problems in theories. Good theories are those that help facilitate this process by being hard to vary: They explain what they are supposed to explain, they are consistent with other good theories, and they …

Getting ontologically serious about the replication crisis in psychology.

Discussions of the so-called replication crisis (RC) in psychology have focused on methodological–epistemological considerations. In this article, I follow a speculative approach within analytic philosophy to focus on ontological considerations, as …

Introducing Preregistration of Research Design to Archaeology

Archaeology has an issue with "just-in-time" research, where insufficient attention is paid to articulating a research design before fieldwork begins. Data collection, management, and analysis approaches are under-planned and, often, evolve during …

On Not Confusing the Tree of Trustworthy Statistics with the Greater Forest of Good Science: A Comment on Simmons et al.’s Perspective on Pre-registration

In this commentary on Simmons, Nelson, and Simonsohn (this issue), we examine their rationale for pre-registration within the broader perspective of what good science is. We agree that there is potential benefit in a system of pre-registration if …

Positionality statements in science

The goal of this essay is to clarify positionality as an epistemological scientific concept and address related misunderstandings to help researchers assess whether statements thereof contribute to their work. Positionality statements can be useful …

Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of the Science Reform Movement

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Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of the Science Reform Movement

The scientific community has entered a challenging era, as originally noted by Wagenmakers . High-profile instances of fraud, failures to replicate foundational studies in psychology, and admissions of research misconduct cast a shadow over the …

The replication crisis is less of a “crisis” in Lakatos’ philosophy of science than it is in Popper’s

Popper’s (1983, 2002) philosophy of science has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the wake of the replication crisis, offering a philosophical basis for the ensuing science reform movement. However, adherence to Popper’s approach may also be at …

The replication crisis is less of a “crisis” in the Lakatosian approach than it is in the Popperian and naïve methodological falsificationism approaches

Popper’s (1983, 2002) philosophy of science has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the wake of the replication crisis, offering a philosophical basis for the ensuing science reform movement. However, adherence to Popper’s approach may also be at …