Method Diversity Is The Basis of Theory Testing More than a century ago, a Swiss patent clerk presented a theory that revolutionized physics. Einstein’s relativity theory continues to … Continue reading >Method Diversity Is The Basis of Theory Testing
Scientific Skepticism Is a Smart Thing As medical science became politicized during COVID-19, a new catch phrase of “follow the science” emerged in the media. People … Continue reading >Scientific Skepticism Is a Smart Thing
What Is the Difference Between Mediator and Moderator Variables? No two statistical concepts are more often confused than mediator and moderator variables. Both are “third” variables that affect the … Continue reading >What Is the Difference Between Mediator and Moderator Variables?
Statistical Modeling Methods Are the Real Trojan Horse When I was a graduate student in the1970s, articles were focused on problems of organizations, and statistical methods were simple. … Continue reading >Statistical Modeling Methods Are the Real Trojan Horse
What Is the Ecological Fallacy Definition? When we collect data on people, those people are members of groups. Employees, for example, are members of teams and … Continue reading >What Is the Ecological Fallacy Definition?
Populations Are Important In Research Reports Last week I was browsing the posters at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) conference in Chicago. A … Continue reading >Populations Are Important In Research Reports
Why the Media Has Lost Faith in Science We see are seeing increasing numbers of media stories about problems with peer-reviewed scientific research. Whether it is a story … Continue reading >Why the Media Has Lost Faith in Science
Theory Salting in the Organizational Sciences I have been around the I-O psychology/management field long enough to see things evolve from its origins in behaviorism where … Continue reading >Theory Salting in the Organizational Sciences
Avoid Magical Thinking with Statistics Both academic research and evidence-based practice rely on information to reach conclusions and make decisions. For example, a practitioner might … Continue reading >Avoid Magical Thinking with Statistics
Bias Undermines the Reliability of Science In my career I have attended hundreds of scientific research talks. What has always raised a red flag for me … Continue reading >Bias Undermines the Reliability of Science
Open Science Is No Panacea Like all human endeavors, science is flawed. There are biases, poor practices and downright fraud that undermine the integrity of … Continue reading >Open Science Is No Panacea
Theory Is Misused in Organizational Science If you read the academic literature in the organizational sciences, you will see the phrase “informed by theory…” It is … Continue reading >Theory Is Misused in Organizational Science
Statistical Control Is Academic Rigor Theater The incorporation of statistical control variables into our analyses has been common practice in many social science fields including the … Continue reading >Statistical Control Is Academic Rigor Theater
The Weak Inference of Model Testing Modern research in the organizational and many other social sciences has become dominated by model testing. Models specify an order … Continue reading >The Weak Inference of Model Testing
Single-Item Measures Are Better Than You Think In 1992 I wrote a “Little Green Sage Series” book Summated Rating Scale Construction as an accessible guide to creating … Continue reading >Single-Item Measures Are Better Than You Think
Research Methods Determine Scientific Inference Of all the things I study, I am most passionate about research methods—doing research on how we do research. I … Continue reading >Research Methods Determine Scientific Inference
What Is a Meta-Analysis Scientists often repeat studies to determine if they can be replicated, that is, if the same results can be found … Continue reading >What Is a Meta-Analysis
Three Types of Scientific Inference When you break it down, science is about inference. Scientists collect information (data) in a systematic way and draw conclusions … Continue reading >Three Types of Scientific Inference
