Evidence and Procedure Characteristics of "Reliable" Propositions in Social Science

How have differences in research procedures affected the reliability of propositions advanced in American social-science research journals? Data on a hundred and twenty independently tested propositions are presented in this study. When "more reliable" propositions were identified by their confirmation in independent replication tests, the original formulations of these propositions proved to be significantly associated with the following evidence and procedure characteristics: (a) presented data interpreting all concepts in the propositions; (b) "large" amount of evidence; (c) an initially abstract, "organized" form of data; (d) systematic selection procedures; (e) quantitative analysis of data; and (f) explicit criterion of confirmation.

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