Replication is more than hitting the lottery twice

The main goal of our target article was to provide concrete recommendations for improving the replicability of research findings. Most of the comments focus on this point. In addition, a few comments were concerned with the distinction between replicability and generalizability and the role of theory in replication. We address all comments within the conceptual structure of the target article, and hope to convince readers that replication in psychological science amounts to much more than hitting the lottery twice

Supernova neutrino detection in NOvA

The NOvA long-baseline neutrino experiment uses a pair of large, segmented, liquid-scintillator calorimeters to study neutrino oscillations, using GeV-scale neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. These detectors are also sensitive to the flux of neutrinos which are emitted during a core-collapse supernova through inverse beta decay interactions on carbon at energies of O(10 MeV). This signature provides a means to study the dominant mode of energy release for a core-collapse supernova occurring in our galaxy. We describe the data-driven software trigger system developed and employed by the NOvA experiment to identify and record neutrino data from nearby galactic supernovae. This technique has been used by NOvA to self-trigger on potential core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, with an estimated sensitivity reaching out to 10 kpc distance while achieving a detection efficiency of 23% to 49% for supernovae from progenitor stars with masses of 9.6 M☉ to 27 M☉, respectively

Registered reports : a method to increase the credibility of published results

Ignoring replications and negative results is bad for science. This special issue presents a novel publishing format – Registered Reports – as a partial solution. Peer review occurs prior to data collection, design and analysis plans are preregistered, and results are reported regardless of outcome. Fourteen Registered Reports of replications of important published results in social psychology are reported with strong confirmatory tests. Further, the articles demonstrate open science practices such as open data, open materials, and disclosure of research process, conflicts of interest, and contributions. The credibility of published science will increase with cultural shifts that accept replications and negative results as viable research outcomes, and when transparency and reproducibility are part of standard research practice

Registered reports : a method to increase the credibility of published results

Ignoring replications and negative results is bad for science. This special issue presents a novel publishing format – Registered Reports – as a partial solution. Peer review occurs prior to data collection, design and analysis plans are preregistered, and results are reported regardless of outcome. Fourteen Registered Reports of replications of important published results in social psychology are reported with strong confirmatory tests. Further, the articles demonstrate open science practices such as open data, open materials, and disclosure of research process, conflicts of interest, and contributions. The credibility of published science will increase with cultural shifts that accept replications and negative results as viable research outcomes, and when transparency and reproducibility are part of standard research practice

Rapid assimilation: Automatically integrating new information with existing beliefs

The present research demonstrates rapid assimilation—the immediate integration of new information with existing beliefs. A vignette described generous and stringent welfare plans, one proposed by Democrats and one proposed by Republicans, manipulated between-subjects. Democrat and Republican participants were influenced by policy content, but also strongly influenced by the political party of the person proposing the plan. Participants underestimated the influence of party on their evaluations. Finally, the newly formed implicit evaluations mediated the effect of party information on self-reported evaluations, both immediately (Studies 1 and 2) and after a several-day delay (Study 2). The results suggest that (a) identity automatically influences evaluation separate from message content, (b) participants did not report awareness of this influence, and (c) when new information can assimilate to pre-existing social cognitions—such as one’s political identity—then implicit evaluations form rapidly and show strength, durability, and predictive validity characteristic of well-elaborated evaluations. Ask someone why they support or oppose the most recent legislation being debated in Congress and they are likely to provide reasons—judgments they believe are based on an analysis of the relevant information that led to their conclusion. The authors thank the members of the University of Virginia Implicit Social Cognition Lab for their helpful comments. This research was supported by Project Implicit and Ghent University Grant BOF