Guest Editor Wanted for Special Issue on Conceptual Replications

Steffi Pohl, Michael Bosnjak, and Benjamin Hilbig (part of the editorial team of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie) plan to publish a special issue on conceptual replications of key results predicted by one psychological theory within the Zeitschrift für Psychologie and are looking for a guest editor.

The aim of the special issue is to make use of conceptual replications to investigate the scope and boundary conditions of a specific psychological theory. The conceptual replications proposed are expected to systematically vary sample characteristics, study implementation parameters, and analysis procedures, among other variables, with an a priori theoretical argument why a particular operationalization and/or intended variation will be informative in testing the predictions of the theory and thus evaluating it more thoroughly.

The guest editor will suggest one specific psychological theory whose key results are to be conceptually replicated, and is encouraged to name researchers and research groups that would independently prepare a pre-registered conceptual replication protocol. Together with the other editors, she or he will conduct a research synthesis to be published as an Editorial based on the conceptual replications published in the special issue.

Positively peer-reviewed pre-registrations of replication studies will be granted free data collection in ZPID’s online panel (https://leibniz-psychology.org/en/services/data-collection/).

Proposals

Proposals can be submitted until May 31, 2019, and should specify the following information:

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  the psychological theory and its key predictions which may be subject to the conceptual replications
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  examples of potential conceptual replications (i.e., predictions or intuitions on the crucial aspects that may be varied across the different conceptual replications and how this variation will serve to evaluate the proposed theory)
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  a brief statement related to the level of adoption of the theory in psychology and related disciplines, and range of its applications
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  outline of own contribution in developing and/or applying the theory suggested
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  list of individual researchers or research teams having declared their in-principle willingness to prepare a pre-registered conceptual replication protocol

Proposals should be submitted as a PDF-document (maximum two pages), and submitted by e-mail to zfp-replication@meta-analysis.eu.

Proposal evaluation criteria and next steps

Criteria for evaluation of the proposals are:

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  expert knowledge of the guest editor in the proposed topic
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  suitability of the theory for conceptual replications
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  feasibility of studies to be implemented using ZPID’s online lab infrastructure
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  availability of research groups for replication studies
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  internationality of research teams for conceptual replications
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  adversarial collaboration in research teams is encouraged

A decision about whom to invite as guest editor will be made by June 30, 2019.

Papers in the Special Issue

After the psychological theory is chosen for the special issue, a call for replication studies will be released. Research groups may then submit pre-registered study protocols for their planned replication studies. These will be evaluated by external reviewers. Research groups with positively evaluated study protocols will receive in-principle acceptance of the final manuscript, and will be offered the option of collecting data for their study using ZPID’s online panel facility.

Timeline

May 31, 2019	Deadline for submission of topic proposals
June 30, 2019	Decision on the psychological theory whose results are to be replicated in the special issue
July 31, 2019	Call for pre-registered study proposals
December 31, 2019	Deadline for pre-registered study proposals, beginning of stage 1 review process
March 31, 2020	In-principle acceptance or rejection of pre-registered study proposals, data collection starts
June 30, 2020	End of data collection with ZPID
October 31, 2020	Submission of full papers, beginning of stage 2 review process
February 28, 2021	Final acceptance or rejection of full papers
Fall 2021	Publication of the special issue

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Criteria for Implementation Within ZPID’s Online Lab Infrastructure

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  Both survey-type studies and online experiments are possible, as is quasi-experimental variation via sample characteristics. For smaller sample sizes of within-subjects designs, a parallel execution of multiple studies is possible, too.
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  Quota samples are possible. Applicants need to argue for the size and composition of the necessary sample(s). Details about the variables available for constructing sample quotas can be found here: https://goo.gl/2zUUW5.
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  Studies can either be conducted in English (based on a UK sample provided by ZPID), or/and in German (based on a German sample provided by ZPID). Study materials in English, German, or in both languages need to be provided by applicants.

Contact

In case of any questions, please contact the journal’s editors by e-mail to zfp-replication@meta-analysis.eu