Elastic Analysis Procedures: An Incurable (but Preventable) Problem in the Fertility Effect Literature. Comment on Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014).

Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014) presented a meta-analysis of the effects of fertility on mate preferences in women. Research in this area has categorized fertility using a great variety of methods, chiefly based on self-reported cycle length and time since last menses. We argue that this li...

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Publicado en:Psychological Bulletin Vol. 140; no. 5; pp. 1260 - 1265
Autores principales: Harris, Christine R., Pashler, Harold, Mickes, Laura
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: American Psychological Association Sep2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Sep2014
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        10.1037/a0036478
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        atl: Elastic Analysis Procedures: An Incurable (but Preventable) Problem in the Fertility Effect Literature. Comment on Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014).
      aug:
        au:
          Harris, Christine R.
          Pashler, Harold
          Mickes, Laura
        affil:
          University of California, San Diego
          Royal Holloway, University of London
      su:
        Fertility
        Reproduction
        Mate selection
        Husbands
        Human behavior
      sug:
        subj:
          Fertility
          Reproduction
          Mate selection
          Husbands
          Human behavior
      keyword:
        fertility effects
        mate preferences
        menstrual cycle
        ovulatory cycle
        p-hacking
        fertility effects
        mate preferences
        menstrual cycle
        ovulatory cycle
        p-hacking
      ab: Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014) presented a meta-analysis of the effects of fertility on mate preferences in women. Research in this area has categorized fertility using a great variety of methods, chiefly based on self-reported cycle length and time since last menses. We argue that this literature is particularly prone to hidden experimenter degrees of freedom. Studies vary greatly in the duration and timing of windows used to define fertile versus nonfertile phases, criteria for excluding subjects, and the choice of what moderator variables to include, as well as other variables. These issues raise the concern that many or perhaps all results may have been created by exploitation of unacknowledged degrees of freedom ("p-hacking"). Gildersleeve et al. sought to dismiss such concerns, but we contend that their arguments rest upon statistical and logical errors. The possibility that positive results in this literature may have been created, or at least greatly amplified, by p-hacking receives additional support from the fact that recent attempts at exact replication of fertility results have mostly failed. Our concerns are also supported by findings of another recent review of the literature (Wood, Kressel, Joshi,'& Louie, 2014). We conclude on a positive note, arguing that if fertility-effect researchers take advantage of the rapidly emerging opportunities for study preregistration, the validity of this literature can be rapidly clarified.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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