P-hacking: A Strategic Analysis | Research Integrity: Best Practices for the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2024)

Research Integrity: Best Practices for the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Lee Jussim (ed.) et al.

Published:

2022

Online ISBN:

9780190938581

Print ISBN:

9780190938550

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Research Integrity: Best Practices for the Social and Behavioral Sciences

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Robert J. MacCoun

Robert J. MacCoun

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Oxford Academic

Pages

295–315

  • Published:

    April 2022

Cite

MacCoun, Robert J., 'P-hacking: A Strategic Analysis', in Lee Jussim, Jon A. Krosnick, and Sean T. Stevens (eds), Research Integrity: Best Practices for the Social and Behavioral Sciences (New York, 2022; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Apr. 2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190938550.003.0011, accessed 28 June 2024.

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Abstract

The phenomenon of p-hacking occurs when researchers engage in questionable practices that enable them to report findings as being statistically significant. This chapter offers four models of p-hacking behavior—unconditional, strategic, greedy, and restrained—and explores the implications of each model. The author then discusses the implications of recent reforms (routine replication, preregistration, and blinded data analysis) with respect to these models. It seems clear that the set of behaviors that constitute p-hacking are quite consequential for the validity of our research and the perceived legitimacy of our authority as empirical researchers. The models of p-hacking presented here are speculative, but hopefully help shine light on some of the shadier aspects of empirical social science.

Keywords: hypothesis testing, confirmation bias, meta-science, open science, p-hacking

Subject

Social Psychology

Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

Robert J. MacCoun, P-hacking In: Research Integrity. Edited by: Lee J. Jussim, Jon A. Krosnick, and Sean T. Stevens, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2022. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190938550.003.0011

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