Estimating statistical power, posterior probability and publication bias of psychological research using the observed replication rate.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we show how Bayes' theorem can be used to better understand the implications of the 36% reproducibility rate of published psychological findings reported by the Open Science Collaboration. We demonstrate a method to assess publication bias and show that the observed reproducibility rate was not consistent with an unbiased literature. We estimate a plausible range for the prior probability of this body of research, suggesting expected statistical power in the original studies of 48-75%, producing (positive) findings that were expected to be true 41-62% of the time. Publication bias was large, assuming a literature with 90% positive findings, indicating that negative evidence was expected to have been observed 55-98 times before one negative result was published. These finding

SUBMITTER: Ingre M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6170554 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature