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The role of meta-analysis and preregistration in assessing the evidence for cleansing effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

Robert M. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australiarobross46@gmail.comhttps://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/robert-ross
Robbie C. M. van Aert
Affiliation:
Department of Methodology & Statistics, 5037 AB Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlandsr.c.m.vanaert@tilburguniversity.eduhttp://www.robbievanaert.com/; ovdakker@gmail.comhttps://www.ovdakker.com
Olmo R. van den Akker
Affiliation:
Department of Methodology & Statistics, 5037 AB Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlandsr.c.m.vanaert@tilburguniversity.eduhttp://www.robbievanaert.com/; ovdakker@gmail.comhttps://www.ovdakker.com
Michiel van Elk
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Leiden, 2311 EZLeiden, The Netherlands. m.vanelk@uva.nlhttps://www.uva.nl/profiel/e/l/m.vanelk/m.vanelk.html

Abstract

Lee and Schwarz interpret meta-analytic research and replication studies as providing evidence for the robustness of cleansing effects. We argue that the currently available evidence is unconvincing because (a) publication bias and the opportunistic use of researcher degrees of freedom appear to have inflated meta-analytic effect size estimates, and (b) preregistered replications failed to find any evidence of cleansing effects.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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