Can Researchers' Personal Characteristics Shape Their Statistical Inferences?
Pers Soc Psychol Bull
; 47(6): 969-984, 2021 06.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32865124
ABSTRACT
Researchers' subjective judgments may affect the statistical results they obtain. This possibility is particularly stark in Bayesian hypothesis testing To use this increasingly popular approach, researchers specify the effect size they are expecting (the "prior mean"), which is then incorporated into the final statistical results. Because the prior mean represents an expression of confidence that one is studying a large effect, we reasoned that scientists who are more confident in their research skills may be inclined to select larger prior means. Across two preregistered studies with more than 900 active researchers in psychology, we showed that more self-confident researchers selected larger prior means. We also found suggestive but somewhat inconsistent evidence that men may choose larger prior means than women, due in part to gender differences in researcher self-confidence. Our findings provide the first evidence that researchers' personal characteristics might shape the statistical results they obtain with Bayesian hypothesis testing.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Projetos de Pesquisa
/
Pesquisadores
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article