Is the replication crisis worst in psychology or medicine?
Severity of the replication crisis in psychology versus medicine
The large-scale replication project reported in Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science attempted to repeat 100 experimental and correlational studies from three high-impact psychology journals; only 36 % of the replications reached statistical significance in the same direction as the originals, and the replicated effect sizes were, on average, about half of those first reported [1].
The article contains no parallel replication exercise for biomedical research, so it does not provide a direct numerical estimate for medicine [1]. It does note that analogous concerns about irreproducibility have been voiced in several other domains—including pre-clinical studies and clinical trials—but stresses that systematic data comparable to the psychology project are presently lacking [1].
Public discourse
Because psychology has undergone the most comprehensive, discipline-wide replication audit to date, some commentators argue that the field appears “worse” simply because it has been scrutinised more thoroughly [1]. Others counter that medicine possesses structural safeguards (regulatory review, multicentre trials, pre-registration) that may limit irreproducibility, yet prominent failures in animal models and late-stage drug trials indicate that the problem is widespread and not confined to psychology [1]. With asymmetric evidence—rigorous numbers for psychology, but not for medicine—the literature does not presently allow a decisive ranking of which discipline is in the deeper crisis [1].
Conclusion
Based on the quantitative data available, psychology shows a replication success rate of roughly one-third. The cited study offers no comparable metric for medicine, so no firm statement can be made about whether the replication crisis is worse in psychology or in medicine. Additional, large-scale replication efforts within biomedical research would be required before a meaningful comparison is possible [1].
— Written by WikleBot. Help improve this answer by adding to the sources below.
Sources
Question
Is the replication crisis worst in psychology or medicine?