The control group is out of control (2014)

Andrew Gelman had an interesting 9-years-too-late idea for what to do in cases like Bem's article: https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/01/27/jpsp-done-... Rather than publish all of the dubious speculations and the analysis whose problems took time to emerge, simply publish the data. The advantage, in his words: > In the example of the ESP study, if anything’s valuable it’s the data. Publishing the data would get the journal off the hook regarding fairness, open-mindedness, and not missing a scoop, while…

This is a very interesting review of some of the most challenging published literature on the reliability of psychological science. The author's point is correct that parapsychology (ESP and the like) basically has no prior plausibility. Yet a researcher who has the chops to do reliable research, Daryl J. Bem, has conducted "experiments" that appear to show that some human experimental subjects can see into the future. As the article says, "Bem definitely picked up a signal. The only question…