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The Use of the Effect Size in JCR Spanish Journals of Psychology: From Theory to Fact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Juan García García ,
Elena Ortega Campos  and
Leticia De la Fuente Sánchez
Juan García García*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Almería (Spain)
Elena Ortega Campos
Affiliation:
Universidad de Almería (Spain)
Leticia De la Fuente Sánchez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Almería (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan García García. Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Almería. Cañada de San Urbano s/n. 04120 Almería (Spain). E-mail: jgarciag@ual.es
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Abstract

In 1999, Wilkinson and the Task Force on Statistical Inference published “Statistical Methods and Psychology: Guidelines and Explanation.” The authors made several recommendations about how to improve the quality of Psychology research papers. One of these was to report some effect-size index in the results of the research. In 2001, the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association included this recommendation. In Spain, in 2003, scientific journals like Psicothema or the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (IJCHP) published editorials and papers expressing the need to calculate the effect size in the research papers. The aim of this study is to determine whether the papers published from 2003 to 2008 in the four Spanish journals indexed in the Journal Citation Reports have reported some effect-size index of their results. The findings indicate that, in general, the follow-up of the norm has been scanty, though the evolution over the analyzed period is different depending on the journal.

Con la publicación, en 1999, del informe Statistical Methods in Psychology Journals: Guidelines and explanations (Wilkinson & The Task Force on Statistical Inference) se hicieron públicas una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar la calidad en la presentación metodológica de los artículos de investigación en Psicología, siendo una de ellas el cálculo de un estadístico adecuado para valorar el tamaño del efecto en la presentación de los resultados. En 2001, la quinta edición del Manual de Publicación de la Asociación Americana de Psicología ha incluido esta recomendación. En España, en 2003, revistas científicas como Psicothema o el International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (IJCHP) publican editoriales y guías en las que expresan la necesidad de calcular el tamaño del efecto en los trabajos de investigación. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar si los artículos publicados desde 2003 hasta 2008 en las cuatro revistas españolas indizadas en el Journal Citation Reports han informado de algún índice del tamaño del efecto en los artículos publicados. Los resultados indican que, en general, el seguimiento de la norma ha sido escaso, aunque la evolución durante el período analizado es diferente dependiendo de la revista.

Keywords

effect sizesstatistical significance testingnull hypothesis testingSpanish journals of psychologytamaño del efectosignificación estadísticacontraste de hipótesis nularevistas españolas de psicología
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , November 2011 , pp. 1050 - 1055
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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