• DOI:10.1086/288135
Corpus ID: 96422880

Theory-Testing in Psychology and Physics: A Methodological Paradox

@article{Meehl1967TheoryTestingIP,
  title={Theory-Testing in Psychology and Physics: A Methodological Paradox},
  author={P. Meehl},
  journal={Philosophy of Science},
  year={1967},
  volume={34},
  pages={103 - 115}
}

• P. Meehl
• Published 1967
• Psychology
• Philosophy of Science

Because physical theories typically predict numerical values, an improvement in experimental precision reduces the tolerance range and hence increases corroborability. In most psychological research, improved power of a statistical design leads to a prior probability approaching 1/2 of finding a significant difference in the theoretically predicted direction. Hence the corroboration yielded by "success" is very weak, and becomes weaker with increased precision. "Statistical significance" plays… Expand

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