Meta-analysis
Meta-analysis in experimental philosophy
Meta-analysis is a statistical technique for summarizing and analyzing the results of multiple studies on a similar topic, for instance, conducted by different research teams, at different times, or using different methods. This technique is used in many research fields. The widest area of use of this method is clinical research.
Using the results of many controlled trials, researchers conducting a meta-analysis attempt to estimate whether a particular drug or treatment is effective. However, meta-analyses are used not only in medical research.
Experimental philosophy
Variation in philosophical intuitions
Experimental philosophy is a young discipline in which philosophers, often together with collaborators from other fields, conduct studies testing what intuitions people have about philosophical problems.
Many studies have revealed that people differ in their intuitions depending on culture, age, or education. Other studies have shown that people’s intuitions can be influenced by surprising factors, such as how or in what order philosophical scenarios are presented. The current state of research suggests that philosophical intuitions can be highly variable and unstable.
Primary goal
The primary goal of the project
The primary goal of the project is to determine, using meta-analysis, how people’s philosophical intuitions vary. This requires considering whether and how statistical results obtained through meta-analysis can be translated into philosophical debates about intuitions and, at the same time, conducting original meta-analytic research.
As part of the project, we will be able to estimate the degree of variation in effects and determine which factors are responsible for this variation, for example the language in which a study was conducted, the wording of the questions, or the culture from which the participants came.
Reporting standards
Meta-analysis is not always possible
Meta-analysis is only possible when published papers contain the statistical and methodological information needed for secondary analysis. In many empirical studies, those details are missing or reported too loosely.
The project therefore also includes a meta-research component devoted to assessing whether papers in experimental philosophy meet the standards of statistical and methodological reporting needed for future meta-analyses.
Outputs
What the project will also do
Based on the results of the project, we plan to develop best practices for reporting studies in a way that facilitates future meta-analyses. We also plan to create recommendations for conducting and describing meta-analyses in experimental philosophy.
