Are your research sources reliable?

Anna Dreber Almenberg is a professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and researcher on topics such as replicability in research. Here you can listen to Anna’s thoughts on what makes scientific research reliable and how and why we should question many research findings.

Reliable research – what should we believe?

Anna Dreber Almenberg’s research is about how we should relate to the results of scientific research. Anna has published many scientific articles about psychology and economics and is a professor at the Department of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Statistical analysis – the solution to the “replication crisis”

One of the most watched Ted Talks is by social psychologist Amy Cuddy, asserting that physical posture can increase power: so-called “power posing”. The talk is based on research conducted on 42 people, and the claim is that “strong” physical positions, as opposed to “weak” positions, give rise to surges of testosterone, reduced production of cortisol, increased risk-taking and an increased sense of power. The research results had a widespread impact when they were presented. The problem was that they were not reliable. The tests could not be replicated on a larger sample of people with the same results. “Replication crisis” is a general phenomenon in quantitative science.

So what research can we actually trust? Who is responsible for the crisis? And how do we solve the problem? In this fascinating podcast Anna Dreber Almenberg reflects on the challenges of research reliability.

More on this topic

Winter podcasts 2016

Martin Sköld – Be twice as effective with high volume AND variety (podcast in Swedish)
Lawrence Romani – Ethical diversity – what is going on?
Mats Agurén – Multi-dimensional leadership and “wicked problems” (podcast in Swedish)
RAMP – Education – the main route to integration
Anna Dreber Almenberg – Are your research sources reliable?
All Winter podcasts 2016, start page