The thirteenth OSCR ReproducibiliTea journal club will take place on February 11th at 14:00. Our special guest will be Prof. Dr. Rolf Zwaan, professor of Biological and Cognitive Psychology at the Institute of Psychology and Chair of the Brain and Cognition area at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Rolf will guide us through one of his most influential papers1:

Zwaan, R. A., Etz, A., Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2018). Making replication mainstream. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41, e120. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X17001972

In this article, the authors describe the role of replication in science. A single finding is not very meaningful. Having a procedure that reliably produces a finding is. Direct replication is a tool by which reliability can be assessed. In the article, the authors discuss several arguments that have been leveled in the literature against direct replication, concluding that these arguments provide no obstacles to make (direct) replication mainstream.

Making Replication Mainstream signifies the performative nature of the article. It not only describes ways in which replication can become mainstream but is also intended to help bring about what it describes. With this goal in mind, the authors submitted our manuscript to Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), a journal with a broad audience, which may not have been familiar with the replication debate. Another attractive feature of BBS is that it allows for commentaries, which help broaden the scope of the arguments. The authors were pleased (though initially a little dismayed and intimidated) that the article elicited 36 commentaries. Fortunately, these commentaries were largely supportive and helped more clearly map the role of replication in psychological and brain science.

An invitation via Outlook calendar has been sent to researchers in the OSCR mailing list2. This email includes a link to join the meeting remotely using Zoom. Click on the link, insert the password provided in the invitation mail, and you will join the call.

During the Zoom meeting, please follow these guidelines:

  • wear headphones
  • mute your microphone
  • video is optional (in case of connection issues, you may be asked to turn it off)
  • pay attention to the moderator (which will be Antonio)
  • if you have questions
    • click on the Raise Hand button and the moderator will unmute you; or
    • write down your question in the chat and the moderator will read it
  • avoid talking over each other and make sure that everyone can have their opportunity to speak
  • arrive a few minutes before the beginning of the call, to familiarize with the online environment and solve possible technical issues

Please remember that attendees of every OSCR event (in-person or online) are required to follow our Code of Conduct.

Take care,

Rolf Zwaan and Antonio Schettino

  1. The paper and slide deck will be available on our OSF repository.↩︎

  2. If you are not part of the OSCR mailing lists but would like to join, please contact Antonio.↩︎