WHY THE REPRODUCIBILITY PROJECT RESULTS ARE A GOOD THING. Benedict Carey says that the results of the Reproducibility Project “have confirmed the worst fears of scientists who have long worried that the field needed a strong correction.”
Despite the dismay expressed by some scientists, I think that this is one place where the metaphor of a glass being half full applies. There is good news for two reasons. First, a lot of the 100 studies were “confirmed”—or rather, the support for them increased. Second, the attention given the Project should increase the glamour and publishibility of future reproducibility studies.
Megan McArdle in this article on Bloomberg View sums up: “And ultimately, that’s why this latest study is a good sign. Because the researchers did exactly what you want, if you want to increase the sum of human knowledge: Instead of chasing a sexy, new, but possibly imaginary result to put on their resumes, they did the vital work of checking up on stuff we already thought we knew.”