An Analysis of “Publication Bias” in the Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Research

Abstract

This article examines whether studies with favorable or statistically significant outcomes are more likely to be published than studies with null results. Should such a publication tendency be in the form of favoring significant findings exist, then the integrity of science, suggestions and conclusions becomes controversial. This also includes those particularly drawn from meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Drawing on a sample of research articles, an examination was undertaken to determine whether studies reporting significant findings were published more. Additional analyses were conducted to examine the validity of reject/support decisions in relation to null hypotheses tested in these studies. The share of the published articles, in which null hypotheses were rejected, was found to be much larger (81%). Interestingly however, calculated power levels and actual samples sizes of these studies were too small to confidently reject/support null hypotheses. Implications for research are discussed in the concluding section of the article.