Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.

Although questionable research practices (QRPs) and p-hacking have received attention in recent years, little research has focused on their prevalence and acceptance in students. Students are the researchers of the future and will represent the field in the future. Therefore, they should not be lear...

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Main Authors: Anand Krishna, Sebastian M Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6117074?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-9e2ca5c642a94b93b55167deb7ec67ed2020-11-25T02:06:08ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-01138e020347010.1371/journal.pone.0203470Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.Anand KrishnaSebastian M PeterAlthough questionable research practices (QRPs) and p-hacking have received attention in recent years, little research has focused on their prevalence and acceptance in students. Students are the researchers of the future and will represent the field in the future. Therefore, they should not be learning to use and accept QRPs, which would reduce their ability to produce and evaluate meaningful research. 207 psychology students and fresh graduates provided self-report data on the prevalence and predictors of QRPs. Attitudes towards QRPs, belief that significant results constitute better science or lead to better grades, motivation, and stress levels were predictors. Furthermore, we assessed perceived supervisor attitudes towards QRPs as an important predictive factor. The results were in line with estimates of QRP prevalence from academia. The best predictor of QRP use was students' QRP attitudes. Perceived supervisor attitudes exerted both a direct and indirect effect via student attitudes. Motivation to write a good thesis was a protective factor, whereas stress had no effect. Students in this sample did not subscribe to beliefs that significant results were better for science or their grades. Such beliefs further did not impact QRP attitudes or use in this sample. Finally, students engaged in more QRPs pertaining to reporting and analysis than those pertaining to study design. We conclude that supervisors have an important function in shaping students' attitudes towards QRPs and can improve their research practices by motivating them well. Furthermore, this research provides some impetus towards identifying predictors of QRP use in academia.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6117074?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Anand Krishna
Sebastian M Peter
spellingShingle Anand Krishna
Sebastian M Peter
Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Anand Krishna
Sebastian M Peter
author_sort Anand Krishna
title Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
title_short Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
title_full Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
title_fullStr Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
title_full_unstemmed Questionable research practices in student final theses - Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
title_sort questionable research practices in student final theses - prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor's perceived attitudes.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2018-01-01
description Although questionable research practices (QRPs) and p-hacking have received attention in recent years, little research has focused on their prevalence and acceptance in students. Students are the researchers of the future and will represent the field in the future. Therefore, they should not be learning to use and accept QRPs, which would reduce their ability to produce and evaluate meaningful research. 207 psychology students and fresh graduates provided self-report data on the prevalence and predictors of QRPs. Attitudes towards QRPs, belief that significant results constitute better science or lead to better grades, motivation, and stress levels were predictors. Furthermore, we assessed perceived supervisor attitudes towards QRPs as an important predictive factor. The results were in line with estimates of QRP prevalence from academia. The best predictor of QRP use was students' QRP attitudes. Perceived supervisor attitudes exerted both a direct and indirect effect via student attitudes. Motivation to write a good thesis was a protective factor, whereas stress had no effect. Students in this sample did not subscribe to beliefs that significant results were better for science or their grades. Such beliefs further did not impact QRP attitudes or use in this sample. Finally, students engaged in more QRPs pertaining to reporting and analysis than those pertaining to study design. We conclude that supervisors have an important function in shaping students' attitudes towards QRPs and can improve their research practices by motivating them well. Furthermore, this research provides some impetus towards identifying predictors of QRP use in academia.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6117074?pdf=render
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