Harking

Definition

Harking refers to the practice of selectively citing previous research findings that support a current hypothesis while ignoring or downplaying results that contradict it. This can lead to a skewed representation of evidence and contributes to the challenges in replicating research findings, especially during the reproducibility crisis, where many studies fail to achieve consistent results across different experiments.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Harking undermines the integrity of research by promoting selective reporting and can lead to misleading conclusions about the effectiveness of interventions or theories.
2. Researchers may engage in harking unintentionally due to cognitive biases, as they may favor information that aligns with their beliefs or desired outcomes.
3. To combat harking, scientists are encouraged to pre-register their hypotheses and analysis plans before conducting studies, fostering transparency and accountability.
4. Harking is closely related to other questionable research practices like p-hacking and cherry-picking data, which also compromise the reliability of scientific evidence.
5. The reproducibility crisis highlights the importance of addressing harking and other biases in research to ensure that scientific findings are reliable and valid.

Review Questions

• How does harking impact the reliability of scientific research and what are some potential consequences?
  • Harking negatively impacts the reliability of scientific research by creating a distorted view of evidence, as only supportive findings are highlighted while contradictory results are ignored. This selective reporting can lead researchers and practitioners to draw incorrect conclusions about the validity of hypotheses, potentially influencing policy decisions and future research directions. Ultimately, this practice contributes to the reproducibility crisis, where many studies cannot be replicated successfully due to biased initial reporting.
• Discuss how pre-registration of studies can help mitigate the effects of harking in scientific research.
  • Pre-registration involves publicly documenting a researcher's hypotheses, methods, and planned analyses before conducting a study. This process helps mitigate harking by establishing a clear framework that researchers must follow, reducing the temptation to selectively report data post hoc. By promoting transparency and accountability, pre-registration encourages adherence to original research goals and minimizes the likelihood of biased interpretations that arise from harking practices.
• Evaluate the role of harking in exacerbating the reproducibility crisis in psychology and other scientific fields.
  • Harking plays a significant role in exacerbating the reproducibility crisis by contributing to an environment where selective reporting becomes common. In psychology and other fields, this means that many published studies may present inflated claims about their findings without considering alternative results that could challenge those claims. As more researchers attempt to replicate these studies and find inconsistent results, it becomes clear that harking not only misrepresents original data but also undermines trust in scientific literature as a whole. Addressing this issue is crucial for restoring confidence in research findings and ensuring future studies are conducted with integrity.

Related terms

Publication Bias: A phenomenon where studies with positive or significant results are more likely to be published than those with null or negative findings, affecting the overall body of literature.

P-Hacking: The practice of manipulating statistical analyses or data collection methods to obtain significant p-values, thus misleadingly supporting a hypothesis.

Replicability:

The ability to reproduce the results of a study when it is repeated under the same conditions, which is essential for validating scientific findings.