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Cohen’s Convention, the Seriousness of Errors, and the Body of Knowledge in Behavioral Science

Arslan, Aran and Zenker, Frank (2024) Cohen’s Convention, the Seriousness of Errors, and the Body of Knowledge in Behavioral Science. [Preprint]

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Abstract

An often-cited convention for discovery-oriented behavioral science research states that the general relative seriousness of the antecedently accepted false positive error rate of α = .05 be mirrored by a false negative error rate of β = .20. In 1965, Jacob Cohen proposed this convention to decrease a β-error typically in vast excess of .20. Thereby, we argue, Cohen (unintentionally) contributed to the wide acceptance of strongly uneven error rates in behavioral science. Although Cohen’s convention can appear epistemically reasonable for an individual researcher, the comparatively low probability that published effect size estimates are replicable renders his convention unreasonable for an entire scientific field. Appreciating Cohen’s convention helps to understand why even error rates (α = β) are “non-conventional” in behavioral science today, and why Cohen’s explanatory reason for β = .20—that resource restrictions keep from collecting larger samples—can easily be mistaken for the justificatory reason it is not.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Arslan, Aranararslan@gmail.com0000-0002-3014-6532
Zenker, Frankfzenker@gmail.com0000-0001-7173-7964
Keywords: false positive and false negative test results; inductive risk; null hypothesis significance testing; type I and type II error; utility; value-free science
Subjects: General Issues > Data
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Comparative Psychology and Ethology
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Conventionalism
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Developmental Psychology
Specific Sciences > Economics
General Issues > Evidence
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Specific Sciences > Psychology
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Social Psychology
Specific Sciences > Sociology
General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User: Dr. Frank Zenker
Date Deposited: 21 Aug 2024 10:36
Last Modified: 21 Aug 2024 10:36
Item ID: 23804
Official URL: https://link.springer.com/journal/11229
Subjects: General Issues > Data
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Comparative Psychology and Ethology
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Conventionalism
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Developmental Psychology
Specific Sciences > Economics
General Issues > Evidence
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics
Specific Sciences > Psychology
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Social Psychology
Specific Sciences > Sociology
General Issues > Values In Science
Date: 18 August 2024
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23804

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