November 14th, 2006 Posted in Psychology

Collaboration = Progress

I have read a lot of papers by a lot of psychologists, and while scientists are supposed to be objective and neutral, it rarely happens. The author of a paper is often blatantly biased, especially if discussing a model that they or one of their colleagues created.

However, I have just read a journal article written by two opposed researchers. They designed, carried out, analysed and wrote the article together. This is a fantastic idea. There can be no post-hoc arguing about niggly methodological issues, and true progress can be made by discussing the actual data without slating each other. As the authors point out, there can be no rhetoric or explaining away of data – the actual research question is addressed.

Reference:
Schlitz, M., Wiseman, R., Watt, C., & Radin, D. (2006). Of two minds: Skeptic-proponent collaboration within parapsychology. British Journal of Psychology, 97, 313-322.