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Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences

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Why This Matters

This investigation underscores the importance of rigorous analytical methods in social and behavioral sciences, which directly impacts the reliability of research findings that influence policy and societal understanding. For the tech industry, especially in areas like AI and data analytics, ensuring robust scientific foundations enhances trust and efficacy in technology applications. Consumers benefit from more dependable research that informs ethical and effective technological innovations.

Key Takeaways

We thank L. Caron, who contributed to the reanalyses but did not wish to be listed as an author; D. Sun, who contributed to the reanalyses; P. Czingraber, J. Harangozo and M. Kolozsvari for their assistance with data review and preparation; and M. Latz for helping with our graphic designs. We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the following institutions and grants: 016.Vidi.188.001 to D.v.R.; APVV-22-0458 and PRIMUS/24/SSH/017 to M. Adamkovic; Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (project grant 22) and 2024 Ammodo Science Award to A. Sarafoglou; Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT/FONDECYT Regular 1211373) to G. Navarrete; Czech Science Foundation (grant no. GA24-11974S) to D. Lacko; Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency cooperative agreement nos. HR00112020015 and N660011924015 to T.M.E. and B.A.N.; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the CRC TRR 190 ‘Rationality and Competition’ (280092119) to C.B.-R.; DFG grant/award no. 402170461 (TRR 265) to H.T.C.; DFG grant no. 440923825 to S.D.-S.; Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (ref. no. 91803023) to R.A.Z.; Dipartimento di Eccellenza 2023-2027, DIECO_DDE_2023-2027 to M. Rusconi and R.S.; ESRC grant ES/T015357/1 to C.S.; ESRC grant ES/Y002482/1 to D.R.S.; European Unionʼs NextGenerationEU, Mission 4 Component 1 CUP J53D23007960006 and J53D23017140001 to I.M.; European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 665501, Flemish Science Foundation (FWO; FWO.KAN.2019.0023.01) and Special Research Fund of Ghent University to D.W.; Excellence Fund of ELTE Eötvös Loránd University and the János Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to T.N.; Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique to Y.L.M.; FWO.3E0.2021.0085.01 to J.V.A.; German Research Foundation (CRC TR224, Project A04) and Joachim Herz Stiftung to F.R.; German Research Foundation (grant no. SCHM 3460/3-1) to X.S.; Spanish Government (grant nos. RYC2021-033763-I and PID2023-150034OA-I00) to G. Niso; HSE University Basic Research Program to D. Grigoryev; INSEAD R&D committee to E.L.U.; Insight Grant $435-2024-0336 and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to E.C.; Institute of Museum and Library Services (grant no. LG-250130-OLS-21) to S. Alzahawi; John Templeton Foundation (grant ID 62631) to R.M.R.; Keynes Fund (JHVH), CRASSH Grant (climaTRACES Lab) and Cambridge Humanities Research Grants to R.D.; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation and Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation to A.D.; Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (RM56G0344) to M.M.E.; Ministry of Education in China Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (24YJA190001) to H.D.; MSCA-PF to C.M.G.; NIAAA (R01AA030283) and NSF (BCS 2237795) to J. Hogeveen; NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203308) to I.R.J.; NSF GRFP (DGE 2139754) to P. McKee; Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Domain Social Sciences and Humanities Starter Grant to E.M.M.; NWO Veni VI.Veni.222.217 to P. Papale; NWO Vici (grant no. 181.029) to N.N.N.v.D.; National Science Center (2021/41/B/HS6/03104) to A. Gasiorowska; NextGenerationEU to R.L.-B.; Program FUTURE LEADER of Lorraine Université d’Excellence within the program Investissements Avenir (ANR-15-IDEX-04-LUE) operated by the French National Research Agency to S. Massoni; RVO 68081740 to F.D. and J. Lukavský; SCALUP ANR (grant ANR-21-CE28-0016-01) to J. Pfänder; Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 Grant (MSS22B011) and Tier 2 Grant (MM22B03) to M. Schaerer; Mediated Society (MEDIS:ON) CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008713, co-financed by the European Union, Slovak Research and Development Agency under contract no. APVV-23-0421 and NPO Systemic Risk Institute (LX22NPO510) to I. Ropovik; Stanford Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology to S.T. Schwartz; Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Social Policy at Harvard University to M.M.A.; Swedish Research Council (2020-02584) to P. Pärnamets; Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. PZ00P1_201956) to A.N.M.; The DFG (German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2002/1 ‘Science of Intelligence’ (project no. 390523135) to V. Chirkov; The Wellcome Trust (206480/Z/17/Z) to A. Boldt; European Union under the Research Excellence for Region Sustainability and High-tech Industries (project no. CZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048) through the Operational Programme Just Transition to B.P.; UKRI BBSRC (BB/X008428/1) and Leeds NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203331) to F.M.; Université Libre de Bruxelles (Mini-ARC) to G. Corlazzoli; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant (430-2022-00087) to Y.A.W.; French National Research Agency ANR, ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ (LabEx Ecodec/ANR-11-LABX-0047) grant to P. Präg; Interdisciplinary Exploratory Synergy grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF20OC0064869) to S.R.S.; NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (award no. 2104629) to J.F.G.M.; National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 72371165, 71971199 and 71942004) to Q.S.; DFG (German Research Foundation) GRK 2277 (project no. 310365261) to M.R.S.; European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101023805 to D.T.; funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Global Postdoctoral Fellowship (project no. 101149355) to R.R.-C.; Foundation for Polish Science START scholarship to M. Kowal; National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 72173113 and 72322009) and Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project (23SYS04ZD) to F.C.; OTKA FK 146604 research grant to A.M.A.; Project ‘European Brain Research Infrastructures–Italy)’ granted by the European Unionʼs NextGenerationEU adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (CUP B51E22000150006) to A. Antonietti; Region Hovedstadens Forskningsfond til Sundhedsforskning (grant agreement no. A7118) to A. Plachti; Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme (no. 262700) to H.F.S.; Slovak Research and Development Agency under contract nos. APVV-22-0458 and APVV-23-0548 to P. Kačmár; Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento de la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2023-150898OB-I00) to A. Arenas; project of the Minister of Science and Higher Education ‘Support for the activity of Centers of Excellence established in Poland under Horizon 2020’ on the basis of contract no. MEiN/2023/DIR/379, European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 857533 and Sano project carried out within the International Research Agendas programme of the Foundation for Polish Science, co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund to C. Koba; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Grant (435-2024-0336) to E.C; János Bolyai Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to Z.K.; Swiss National Science Foundation (grant nr. 215002) to S.N.; UKRI Horizon Europe funding guarantee (EP/X042758/1) to J.P.R.; FPU18/04805 by the Spanish Ministry of Universities to R.L.N.; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2023-152226NB-I00) to T.K.A.W.; Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, grant no. 12D1523N) to A. Godefroidt; the UKRI BBSRC (BB/X008428/1) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) (NIHR203331) to F.M.; BMBF Professorinnenprogramm via the professorship of T. Lange to F.L.; German Research Foundation (DFG) (BO3139/7) to J.C.W. The Center for Crisis Early Warning (Kompetenzzentrum Krisenfrüherkennung) is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Defense and the German Federal Foreign Office. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency of the German government. J.M.S. is funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant nos. 802227 to E-M. Merz and 10102045 to S. Gächter).