Paper short abstract

Based on an ethnographic study of six European cognitive science, neuroimaging and psychology labs, I provide an emic perspective of replication. Ultimately, I relate the researchers' meanings, negotiations, reflections and experiences to the sociology of scientific knowledge on replication.

Paper long abstract

Since claims about a “replication” or “reproducibility crisis” started to emerge in the early 2010s, there has been a heightened focus on the supposed role of replication as a practice related to the credibility and assumed self-correction capacity of science. Metascientists, Open Science proponents, research integrity scholars, and other actors involved in current science reform endeavours often depict replication as a diagnostic tool, enabled by explication in transparent reporting and the sharing of material, that aids in identifying whether a finding is credible or a fluke, the result of questionable research practices or misconduct.

However, the social studies of science have a long history of investigating the socio-epistemic nature of replication. The sociology of scientific knowledge outlines the uncertainty surrounding replication and its confrontation in enactment and appraisal with the experimenters’ regress as well as the dependence on tacit knowledge and social negotiation.

Similar to classical findings by Mulkay & Gilbert (1986), following the field observations as part of a multisite lab ethnography, during the interview reflections researchers state they employ “partial replications” in which they take parts of a previous study and incorporate it into their own research. They state that direct or exact replication is not worth the effort while “partial replication” allows them to partially build on previous research, while still exploring something novel and following their own interests. I relate their reflections to the sociology of scientific knowledge, discuss what implications they have for current reform movements and might contribute to ongoing replication discourse and reform.