16: What makes a good psych study?

What are the defining characteristics of a good psychology study? We received this excellent question from a listener and decided to do a whole episode on this idea. Some of the topics discussed: When’s the last time you saw a psych study that only reported a t-test? Dan and James’ new paper on worry and heart rate variability Skepticism towards studies with many variables and ‘novel’ statistical approaches (that tend to always provide marvellous results) Repeated measures ANOVAs vs. linear mixed models Publishing convenient ideas, even if they’re wrong Fishing expeditions The ‘nocebo’ effect in action What are markers of study quality? Pre-registering studies - can it be gamed? The gradual improvement of psychology studies Links Dan and James' new paper on worry and heart rate variability http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27255891 The paper that said "Encouraging experimental psychologists to use LMMs was like giving shotguns to toddlers.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25657634 Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/everythinghertzpodcast/ Twitter account https://www.twitter.com/hertzpodcast