From replication crisis to research rigor: What applied sport science can learn from psychology

The replication crisis in psychology revealed that many published findings could not be reproduced, raising concerns about the field's reliability and credibility. This feature paper explores how lessons from the reproducibility movement in psychology can be adapted to applied sport science, particularly in applied research contexts that involve interventions and ecological constraints. Drawing on recent replication attempts in sport science, the author argues that replication should be seen as a continuum rather than a simple binary outcome. To support this view, a framework is presented that distinguishes between operational, conceptual, and practical replication, the latter capturing ecologically grounded research addressing intervention effectiveness in real-world settings. The paper also outlines field-specific pathways to improve research rigor, including more informative preregistration, collaborative replication initiatives, and the targeted use of quasi-experimental designs in applied contexts. Finally, the key roles of funding institutions, professional societies, and editors are discussed.