PRIMUS Center for meta-research in education

 

Since the effectiveness of education has wide-ranging societal impacts, any changes to educational policies should be backed up by solid empirical evidence. Published studies, however, represent a biased sample of the studies that are conducted. Being arguably one of the most pressing challenges in many empirical sciences, systematic missingness of non-positive results consequently impedes progress in educational theory and may easily lead to the endorsement of ineffective or even harmful educational practices. The proposed project aims to create a platform for research on the reliability of published evidence in educational research. This involves (1) large-scale systematic mapping of methodological quality of influential meta-analyses which are usually seen as instrumental in settling important educational questions, (2) quantitative re-evaluation of these research syntheses after adjusting for publication bias, and (3) empirical studies of research practices and beliefs leading to publication bias and other distortions of the scientific record.

Team members: