BIGSSS Researchers Part of Major Study published in Nature on Reproducibility in Social Sciences › view all

The ability to reproduce a study and produce the same results is a fundamental pillar of scientific credibility. But what happens to that credibility when roughly half of a field’s findings cannot be replicated? This is the question confronting the social and behavioral science community following the publication of a landmark study in Nature.

The study, part of the large-scale international initiative SCORE (Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence), represents the most comprehensive assessment of its kind. Over 800 social scientists from around the world—including researchers from BIGSSS—evaluated nearly 4,000 claims from hundreds of published studies conducted between 2009 and 2018. The results of three major studies were published in Nature this month, drawing attention from major journals like Science and  The New York Times.

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kühnen, Academic Chair at BIGSSS and Constructor University Associate Professor of Psychology is a contributing author to the replicability study. He emphasizes that the findings should not be interpreted as a critique of the social sciences as a whole. “It’s a call for further research that identifies the boundary conditions of previous findings and hopefully helps us understand the underlying processes more thoroughly.” 

Prof. Kühnen joined the SCORE project in 2019 alongside with BIGSSS PhD Fellows Lusine Grigoryan, Vladimir Ponizovskiy and Cristina Greculescu (all alunmi by now). Recognizing the potential to utilise BIGSSS's interdisciplinary expertise, resources, and local German presence, the group responded to a calll to contribute to SCORE by replicating a 2010 study on workplace stress and well-being among German kindergarten teachers. 

The publication of these papers in a prestigious journal like Nature reflects a growing emphasis on conducting research in a rigorous and transparent way. Dr. Cristina Greculescu also highlighted the broader importance of the work and its “ripple effect.” In particular, there is increasing momentum behind open science practices, such as making datasets publicly accessible and preregistering hypotheses. This sends a clear positive signal: the work is meaningful, and scientific integrity truly matters.
 

Find the full articel here. 

(Source: Constructor University)