Questionable research practices in student final theses – Prevalence, attitudes, and the role of the supervisor’s perceived attitudes

Abstract

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.

Students' Experiences of Undergraduate Dissertation Supervision

“…While only a minority of students interviewed referred to this tension, the findings highlight the need for supervisors to not let their own disappointment translate into poorer supervision when students' research is not publishable. One participant reported "fishing" for significant results, aligning with recent research reporting that supervisors shape students' attitudes toward questionable research practices (Krishna and Peter, 2018). Student engagement in questionable research practices has also been documented earlier in the undergraduate degree (Rajah-Kanagasabai and Roberts, 2015), further highlighting the need for supervisors to clearly articulate best practices and demonstrate these in their own research.…”

Research practices and statistical reporting quality in 250 economic psychology master's theses: a meta-research investigation

“…Extending this perspective, we believe that exploring psychology students' statistical reporting quality and indications of QRPs would be just as important, as their behaviour reflects our quality of teaching and they are tomorrows’ early-career researchers in psychological science. We are aware of a single recent study that investigated psychology students' self-reported behaviour and attitudes regarding QRPs [31]. These survey results revealed an average QRP self-admission rate of 9% over 11 different practices, while behaviours such as selective reporting of studies that worked, 1 data exclusions after looking at the data and HARKing had rates of 15% and higher.…”

“…These reported QRP self-admission rates of students are lower than those of academic researchers [9,10]. 2 However, Krishna & Peter [31] discuss the possibility that students’ self-admission rates might underestimate actual QRP prevalences in student theses. It therefore remains unclear to what extent students' actual behaviour reflects sacrifices of scientific rigor to achieve significant results, considerations about statistical power and correct statistical reporting when writing their final thesis.…”

“…Here, we investigated the proportion of students reporting standardized effect sizes for their focal test result in their master's thesis and calculated the average observed effect size. According to students' self-reports, 69% refer to effect sizes in their final academic thesis [31].…”

Les pratiques de recherche ouvertes en psychologie

“…Des comptes rendus de cours plus classiques délivrés à ce sujet à destination des étudiants en psychologie attestent de leur valeur pédagogique (Blincoe & Buchert, 2020 ;Chopik et al, 2018). Pour finir, il ne faut pas oublier le rôle important des encadrants de thèse dans la sensibilisation et la formation des doctorants sur ces questions (Krishna & Peter, 2018).…”