Five rules for good science (and how they can help you spot bad science)

September 22, 2023

I have a few rules that I aim to use when I run studies. By considering what it looks like when these rules are inverted, they also may help guide you in thinking about which studies are not reliable. (1) Don't use a net with big holes to catch a small fish That means you should use a large enough sample size (e.g., number of study participants) to reliably detect whatever effects you're looking for! (2) Don't use calculus to help you assemble IKEA furniture That means...

Importance Hacking: a major (yet rarely-discussed) problem in science

December 19, 2022

I first published this post on the Clearer Thinking blog on December 19, 2022, and first cross-posted it to this site on January 21, 2023. You have probably heard the phrase "replication crisis." It refers to the grim fact that, in a number of fields of science, when researchers attempt to replicate previously published studies, they fairly often don't get the same results. The magnitude of the problem depends on the field, but in psychology, it seems that something like 40% of studies i...