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Published correlational effect sizes in social and developmental psychology
Josefína Weinerová1, Dénes Szűcs1, John P A Ioannidis2
1Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.
Royal Society Open Science
|December 26, 2022
Summary
This study analyzed over 43,000 correlation effect sizes in psychology journals. Findings reveal reporting biases and the growing importance of statistical power calculations in research.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Effect size distribution offers insights into scientific research practices.
- Understanding reported correlations is crucial for interpreting findings in psychology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the distribution of correlation effect sizes in social and developmental psychology journals.
- To investigate trends in effect size reporting and statistical power over time.
Main Methods:
- Manually collected 12,412 correlation effect sizes (Sample 1) from 243 studies.
- Computer-extracted 31,157 correlation effect sizes (Sample 2) from 5,012 papers.
- Compared effect size percentiles and examined the prevalence of power calculations between 2010 and 2019.
Main Results:
- Effect size percentiles were higher in computer-extracted data (Sample 2) compared to manually collected data (Sample 1), suggesting potential emphasis on larger correlations in text.
- Larger sample sizes were associated with smaller reported correlations.
- Prevalence of statistical power calculations increased from 0% in 2010 to 14% in 2019.
Conclusions:
- Empirical data on reported correlations can inform effect size interpretation.
- The study highlights potential reporting biases and the increasing, yet still insufficient, use of statistical power analysis.
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