Review – The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science

Just a quick blog on this very interesting paper

The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science by Megan L. Head , Luke Holman,  Rob Lanfear, Andrew T. Kahn, Michael D. Jennions

“A focus on novel, confirmatory, and statistically significant results leads to substantial bias in the scientific literature. One type of bias, known as “p-hacking,” occurs when researchers collect or select data or statistical analyses until nonsignificant results become significant.”

This is a very well written and readable paper which will be of interest to researchers and would be useful for discussion at under graduate level and post graduate level. What I like about this paper is the readability and clarity of the writing (often a rarity in many peer review papers) .

As well as the statistical aspects in the paper, it raises issues that could easily develop into a discussion about ethics in research  and the problems in the publication process.

The lead author recently carried out an Ask Me Anything debate on this paper on REDDIT a website with an enormous number of readers.  

 

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