[From the opinion article, “Undergrads Can Improve Psychology” by Russell Warne and  Jordan Wagge, published at http://www.wsj.com]

“A lot of what we think we know about human psychology is bunk. That’s because experimental psychology has a “replication crisis”: Too many studies, when repeated, fail to produce the same results.”

“Here’s a solution: Enlist students to perform replications as part of scientific training. Almost every undergraduate and graduate student studying psychology must take a course in research methods. They can learn by attempting to replicate earlier studies.”

“The Collaborative Replications and Education Project follows this model. CREP is a crowdsourcing project in which highly cited studies in psychology are selected and posted online for teams of undergraduates to try to replicate. Each step of the process is reviewed by experts, and results from multiple sites are pooled and published as a combined study called a meta-analysis.”

“Students respond positively to performing replications, which is not surprising—studies have shown that research projects positively influence student engagement and retention. What makes CREP unique is its adherence to the principles of good science (such as publicly documenting all aspects of the research process) and the important service to the field that each direct replication provides. Future scholars learn how to do things the right way early, and the results from their projects serve a public purpose beyond pedagogy.”

To read more, click here (NOTE: this article is behind a paywall).

FYI: Readers interested in the meta-analysis aspect of this article may also find the website Curate Science of interest.