Toward a More Perfect Psychology: Improving Trust, Accuracy, and Transparency in Research

The promise of science is that its methods cause others to believe its results. This foundation is served by trust, accuracy, and transparency. Unfortunately, current research practices in psychology are known to often produce inaccurate, irreproducible, and imprecise results. "Toward a More Perfect Psychology" introduces a plethora of strategies to strengthen the field by improving research quality. Readers will learn how research methods are evolving and how to use them to maximize the quality and impact of their own work. The strategies described will help readers develop research ideas, design studies, and analyze and disseminate results, as well as evaluate and respond to the research of others. This book is a vital step in making psychology a stronger, more rigorous science. After an introduction entitled, Why Is This Book Necessary, by Matthew C. Makel and Jonathan A. Plucker, this book is divided into five parts. Part 1, The Research Process, contains the following chapters: (1) The Contributions of Theory Choice, Cumulative Science, and Problem Finding to Scientific Innovation and Research Quality (Oshin Vartanian); (2) Designing a Study to Maximize Informational Value (Allison Ledgerwood, Courtney K. Soderberg, and Jehan Sparks); (3) Confirmatory Study Design, Data Analysis, and Results That Matter (Matthew T. McBee and Samuel H. Field); (4) Selective Outcome Reporting and Research Quality (Terri D. Pigott, Ryan T. Williams, and Jeffrey C. Valentine); and (5) Citing, Being Cited, Not Citing, and Not Being Cited: Citations as Intellectual Footprints (Alyson L. Lavigne and Thomas L. Good). Part 2, Perspectives, contains the following chapters: (6) The Peer Review Process: Using the Traditional System to Its Full Potential (Jennifer L. Richler and Isabel Gauthier); (7) Communicating to the Public (Howard Gardner); and (8) Sharing Your Work: An Essay on Dissemination for Impact (Jonathan A. Plucker and Paul J. Silvia). Part 3, Views From the Field, contains the following chapters: (9) The Promises and Pitfalls of Research-Practice Partnerships (Mark Berends and Megan J. Austin); (10) Conducting Cognitive Neuroscience Research (Amy Lynne Shelton); (11) Science in Clinical Psychology (Bryan M. D'Onofrio, Richard J. Viken, and William P. Hetrick); and (12) The Messy Art of Doing Science: Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls and Problematic Research Practices (Jonathan A. Plucker and Matthew C. Makel). Part 4, Reproducibility, contains the following chapters: (13) Data Reanalysis and Open Data (Jelte M. Wicherts); (14) Replication (Stefan Schmidt); and (15) Meta-Analysis and Reproducibility (Ryan T. Williams, Joshua R. Polanin, and Terri D. Pigott). Part 5, Synthesis, contains the following chapters: (16) The Reproducibility Crisis in Psychology: Attack of the Clones or Phantom Menace? (Jeffrey K. Smith, Lisa F. Smith, and Benjamin K. Smith); and (17) Reproducible Science: A New Hope (Matthew C. Makel and Jonathan A. Plucker). Contains an index and a section about the editors.