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A Vast Graveyard of Undead Theories

2012; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 7; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1745691612459059

1745-6924

Christopher J. Ferguson, Moritz Heene,

Mental Health Research Topics

Publication bias remains a controversial issue in psychological science. The tendency of psychological science to avoid publishing null results produces a situation that limits the replicability assumption of science, as replication cannot be meaningful without the potential acknowledgment of failed replications. We argue that the field often constructs arguments to block the publication and interpretation of null results and that null results may be further extinguished through questionable researcher practices. Given that science is dependent on the process of falsification, we argue that these problems reduce psychological science's capability to have a proper mechanism for theory falsification, thus resulting in the promulgation of numerous "undead" theories that are ideologically popular but have little basis in fact.