Should science stop worshiping statistical significance? (with Andrew Gelman)

What this episode covers

Read the full transcript here. • If you enjoy our podcast, we have some exciting news – we’ve just launched a new membership called Clearer Thinking Plus. • Members get this podcast completely ad-free, as well as two professional coaching sessions every month, access to our advanced cognitive assessment, and seven other exclusive perks. • Clearer Thinking Plus is one of the most affordable ways to get access to a high-quality coach - whether you want to improve your habits, find more effective ways to work towards your goals, or get assistance making difficult decisions. It is also a more affordable and convenient way to get all the perks we offer. • If you're not interested in coaching, you can still get ad-free access to this podcast and the other perks with our explorer plan. • Access www.clearerthinking.org/plus (https://www.clearerthinking.org/plus) to become a member today. We hope to see you there! • What makes a piece of research “public property,” and what ethical obligations does that create for critics and authors alike? When a result feels wrong but you can’t locate the “smoking gun,” how should skepticism be calibrated without sliding into cynicism? How can a field avoid mistaking the absence of obvious errors for evidence that a claim is sound? What incentives cause entire literatures to form around fragile findings, and why do they persist for so long? Why do some researchers experience replication attempts as hostility, while others experience them as a gift? What norms would make constructive public criticism more common and less personally costly? How should we weigh a paper’s contribution when its analysis is flawed but its question is valuable? When is it rational to trust “the literature,” and when is the literature itself likely to be trapped in self-reinforcing error? What would it take for scientific communities to treat uncertainty as an honest output rather than a professional liability? Can a culture of open critique exist without amplifying bad-faith attacks or anti-science narratives? • Andrew Gelman, Ph.D., is Higgins Professor of Statistics, Professor of Political Science, and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. • Links: • Andrew's Substack (https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/) • Staff • Spencer Greenberg (https://www.spencergreenberg.com/) — Host + Director • Ryan Kessler (https://tone.support/) — Producer + Technical Lead • WeAmplify (https://www.weamplify.info/) — Transcriptionists • Igor Scaldini (https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorscaldini/) — Marketing Consultant • Music • Broke for Free (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Something_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Something_EP_-_05_Something_Elated) • Josh Woodward (https://www.joshwoodward.com/song/AlreadyThere) • Lee Rosevere (https://archive.org/details/MusicForPodcasts04/Lee+Rosevere+-+Music+for+Podcasts+4+-+11+Keeping+Stuff+Together.flac) • Quiet Music for Tiny Robots (https://www.freemusicarchive.org/music/Quiet_Music_for_Tiny_Robots/The_February_Album/05_Tiny_Robot_Armies) • wowamusic (https://gamesounds.xyz/?dir=wowamusic) • zapsplat.com (https://www.zapsplat.com/music/summer-haze-slow-chill-out-house-track-with-a-modern-pop-feel-warm-piano-chords-underpin-the-track-with-warm-pads-and-a-repetitive-synth-arpeggio/) • Affiliates • Clearer Thinking (https://www.clearerthinking.org/) • GuidedTrack (https://guidedtrack.com/) • Mind Ease (https://mindease.io/) • Positly (https://positly.com/) • UpLift (https://www.uplift.app/)