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Biases in research: risk factors for non-replicability in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research

Leichsenring, F; Abbass, A; Hilsenroth, MJ; Leweke, F; Luyten, P; Keefe, JR; Midgley, N; ... Steinert, C; + view all (2017) Biases in research: risk factors for non-replicability in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research. Psychological Medicine , 47 (6) pp. 1000-1011. 10.1017/S003329171600324X. Green open access

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Abstract

Replicability of findings is an essential prerequisite of research. For both basic and clinical research, however, low replicability of findings has recently been reported. Replicability may be affected by research biases not sufficiently controlled for by the existing research standards. Several biases such as researcher allegiance or selective reporting are well-known for affecting results. For psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research, specific additional biases may affect outcome (e.g. therapist allegiance, therapist effects or impairments in treatment implementation). For meta-analyses further specific biases are relevant. In psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research these biases have not yet been systematically discussed in the context of replicability. Using a list of 13 biases as a starting point, we discuss each bias's impact on replicability. We illustrate each bias by selective findings of recent research, showing that (1) several biases are not yet sufficiently controlled for by the presently applied research standards, (2) these biases have a pernicious effect on replicability of findings. For the sake of research credibility, it is critical to avoid these biases in future research. To control for biases and to improve replicability, we propose to systematically implement several measures in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research, such as adversarial collaboration (inviting academic rivals to collaborate), reviewing study design prior to knowing the results, triple-blind data analysis (including subjects, investigators and data managers/statisticians), data analysis by other research teams (crowdsourcing), and, last not least, updating reporting standards such as CONSORT or the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR).

Type: Article
Title: Biases in research: risk factors for non-replicability in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy research
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S003329171600324X
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171600324X
Language: English
Additional information: This article has been published in a revised form in Psychological Medicine: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329171600324X. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016.
Keywords: Efficacy, evidence-based medicine, psychotherapy research, replicability, risk factors
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1532689
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