Australian and Italian Psychologists’ View of Replication

Abstract

Solutions to the crisis in confidence in the psychological literature have been proposed in many recent articles, including increased publication of replication studies, a solution that requires engagement by the psychology research community. We surveyed Australian and Italian academic research psychologists about the meaning and role of replication in psychology. When asked what they consider to be a replication study, nearly all participants (98% of Australians and 96% of Italians) selected options that correspond to a direct replication. Only 14% of Australians and 8% of Italians selected any options that included changing the experimental method. Majorities of psychologists from both countries agreed that replications are very important, that more replications should be done, that more resources should be allocated to them, and that they should be published more often. Majorities of psychologists from both countries reported that they or their students sometimes or often replicate studies, yet they also reported having no replication studies published in the prior 5 years. When asked to estimate the percentage of published studies in psychology that are replications, both Australians (with a median estimate of 13%) and Italians (with a median estimate of 20%) substantially overestimated the actual rate. When asked what constitute the main obstacles to replications, difficulty publishing replications was the most frequently cited obstacle, coupled with the high value given to innovative or novel research and the low value given to replication studies.