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Replication of the natural selection of bad science
Florian Kohrt1, Paul E Smaldino2,3, Richard McElreath4
1Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
This study reports an independent replication of the findings presented by Smaldino and McElreath (Smaldino, McElreath 2016 R. Soc. Open Sci. 3, 160384 (doi:10.1098/rsos.160384)). The replication was successful with one exception. We find that selection acting on scientist's propensity for replication frequency caused a brief period of exuberant replication not observed in the original paper due to a coding error. This difference does not, however, change the authors' original conclusions. We call for more replication studies for simulations as unique contributions to scientific quality assurance.
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