Poll finds scientific methods are adopted in order of preference

38% of professors don’t know the term replication

Most papers with bad news for academia are ignored. Once in a while a paper comes along that is destined to be ignored in its own special way. Last week, a poll found that 38 percent of professors aren’t aware of replication.

Replication is the practice of repeating others’ experiments. In philosophy it’s called intersubjective agreement and, if you think about it, it’s the bedrock of all we know. A few years ago there was a thing called the replication crisis. Many since have claimed this phrase is too harsh, but we’re finding out that it didn’t matter. You could have a conversation about the replication crisis around many professors and they wouldn’t understand the words you’re saying.