Social Sciences Division
Published October 28, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Empirical audit and review and an assessment of evidentiary value in research on the psychological consequences of scarcity

Creators

  • 1. Georgetown University
  • 2. University of Miami
  • 3. University of California, Berkeley
  • 4. Airbnb
  • 5. New York University
  • 6. University of Chicago
  • 7. University of Tübingen
  • 8. McKinsey & Company

Description

Empirical audit and review is an approach to assessing the evidentiary value of a research area. It involves identifying a topic and selecting a cross-section of studies for replication. We apply the method to research on the psychological consequences of scarcity. Starting with the papers citing a seminal publication in the field, we conducted replications of 20 studies that evaluate the role of scarcity priming in pain sensitivity, resource allocation, materialism, and many other domains. There was considerable variability in the replicability, with some strong successes and other undeniable failures. Empirical audit and review does not attempt to assign an overall replication rate for a heterogeneous field, but rather facilitates researchers seeking to incorporate strength of evidence as they refine theories and plan new investigations in the research area. This method allows for an integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches to review and enables the growth of a cumulative science.

Notes

Due to the large number of authors, only the first 20 and the University of Chicago authors are included on the above author list. Please download the article for the complete list of authors.

Data availability

All original data, preregistration documents, and analysis code have been deposited in the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/a2e96/) (19).

Files

o-donnell-et-al-2021-empirical-audit-and-review-and-an-assessment-of-evidentiary-value-in-research-on-the-psychological.pdf

Files (4.5 MB)

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1073/pnas.2103313118
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:9685

Related works

Is cited by
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206054120 (URL)
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213200120 (URL)
Is supplement to
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217321119 (URL)

Funding

Haas School of Business
NSF
Graduate Research Fellowship Program

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Social Sciences Division
Department(s)
Psychology