How to Publish Rigorous Experiments in the 21st Century

Abstract

Crises provide an opportunity for the field to take stock, as do the articles in this special issue. Constructive advice for 21st century publication standards includes appropriate theory, internal validity, and external validity. First, well-grounded theory can produce a priori plausibility, testable logic, and a focus on the ideas involved, all cumulatively informed by meta-analysis across studies. Second, internal validity benefits from both exploratory work and confirmatory analyses on well-powered samples that require systematic detection and principled decisions about data quality. Inferences benefit from manipulated mediation analysis and from careful interpretation without over-claiming. Finally, external validity profits from a variety of exact and conceptual replications, best evaluated by meta-analysis.