The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Head ML
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4359000 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science.
Head Megan L ML Holman Luke L Lanfear Rob R Kahn Andrew T AT Jennions Michael D MD
PLoS biology 20150313 3
A focus on novel, confirmatory, and statistically significant results leads to substantial bias in the scientific literature. One type of bias, known as "p-hacking," occurs when researchers collect or select data or statistical analyses until nonsignificant results become significant. Here, we use text-mining to demonstrate that p-hacking is widespread throughout science. We then illustrate how one can test for p-hacking when performing a meta-analysis and show that, while p-hacking is probably ...[more]
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