On Replication in Communication Science

Replications are an important part of the research process because they allow for greater confidence in the findings of communication research. However, engaging in replications is often undervalued, replication studies can be difficult to publish, and thus it is difficult for individual scholars to devote their resources toward replication. This essay outlines the importance of replications for communication science and provides a framework for this special issue on replications. The authors also issue a call for communication scholars to consider future projects and structural changes that would incentivize future replication studies. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo

[1]  W. Shadish,et al.  Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference , 2001 .

[2]  Christopher J. Carpenter,et al.  Sample Sizes and Effect Sizes are Negatively Correlated in Meta-Analyses: Evidence and Implications of a Publication Bias Against NonSignificant Findings , 2009 .

[3]  John E. Hunter,et al.  Methods of Meta-Analysis: Correcting Error and Bias in Research Findings , 1991 .

[4]  John E. Hunter,et al.  The design and analysis of language experiments in communication , 1989 .

[5]  Daniel J O'Keefe,et al.  Message Generalizations That Support Evidence-Based Persuasive Message Design: Specifying the Evidentiary Requirements , 2015, Health communication.

[6]  R. Rosenthal,et al.  Statistical Procedures and the Justification of Knowledge in Psychological Science , 1989 .

[7]  D. Simons.  The Value of Direct Replication , 2014, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[8]  R. Lance Holbert,et al.  Empirical Intersections in Communication Research: Replication, Multiple Quantitative Methods, and Bridging the Quantitative-Qualitative Divide , 2008 .

[9]  L. Donohew,et al.  The case for empiricism: Clarifying fundamental issues in communication theory , 1992 .

[10]  Daniel J. O'Keefe,et al.  Messages as Replications: Toward a Message-Centered Design Strategy. , 1989 .

[11]  R. MacCoun.  Experimental and Quasi‐Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, by William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, and Donald T. Campbell. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001, 623 pp., $65.56. , 2003 .

[12]  Brian A. Nosek,et al.  Registered Reports A Method to Increase the Credibility of Published Results , 2014 .

[13]  John E. Hunter,et al.  The Desperate Need for Replications , 2001 .

[14]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  Replication in behavioral research. , 1990 .

[15]  John Stuart Mill,et al.  The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte , 2002 .

[16]  P. Banerjee.  Research design creating robust approaches for the social sciences , 2013 .

[17]  Gary James Jason,et al.  The Logic of Scientific Discovery , 1988 .

[18]  M. Kendall,et al.  The Logic of Scientific Discovery. , 1959 .

[19]  R. Rosenthal.  The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results , 1979 .

[20]  Imre Lakatos,et al.  The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes , 1978 .

[21]  L. J. Chase,et al.  REPLICATION IN EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATION RESEARCH: AN ANALYSIS , 1979 .