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A checklist to facilitate objective hypothesis testing in social psychology research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2015

Anthony N. Washburn ,
G. Scott Morgan  and
Linda J. Skitka
Anthony N. Washburn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607. [email protected]@uic.eduhttp://anwashburn.wordpress.comhttp://tigger.uic.edu/~lskitka
G. Scott Morgan
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Drew University, Madison, NJ 07940. [email protected]://sites.google.com/site/gscottmorgan3
Linda J. Skitka
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607. [email protected]@uic.eduhttp://anwashburn.wordpress.comhttp://tigger.uic.edu/~lskitka
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Abstract

Social psychology is not a very politically diverse area of inquiry, something that could negatively affect the objectivity of social psychological theory and research, as Duarte et al. argue in the target article. This commentary offers a number of checks to help researchers uncover possible biases and identify when they are engaging in hypothesis confirmation and advocacy instead of hypothesis testing.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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