The Statistics of Replication

Abstract

Abstract. The concept of replication is fundamental to the logic and rhetoric of science, including the argument that science is self-correcting. Yet there is very little literature on the methodology of replication. In this article, I argue that the definition of replication should not require underlying effects to be identical, but should permit some variation in true effects to be allowed. I note that different possible analyses could be used to determine whether studies replicate. Finally, I argue that a single replication study is almost never adequate to determine whether a result replicates. Thus, methodological work on the design of replication studies would be useful.