Glossary // Glossary term Technical
Publication bias
The tendency for studies with statistically significant or striking results to be published, and published sooner, than studies with null or unwelcome results. A literature filtered this way overstates effects, and meta-analyses built on it inherit the distortion. Asymmetry in a funnel plot, in which small studies show larger effects, is consistent with publication bias but can also reflect genuine differences between small and large studies; preregistration and registered reports address the problem at its source. How one could reason about recording a catharsis-like change of state: signals, features, inference and context, baselines, self-report, error costs and ethics, and why every step stays uncertain. Nothing on this site measures anyone. Every public claim on this site with its type, evidence level, confidence, sources and review date, and an appraisal of each reference. How claims are graded, how art is kept apart from evidence, and how to report a problem. The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at. (1997). Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629 Supports the claims that funnel-plot asymmetry was associated with meta-analyses later contradicted by large trials and was present in a sizeable minority of published meta-analyses. Asymmetry is consistent with publication bias but has other possible causes, and the medical sample may not represent psychology.Where the site uses it
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