Multi-Site Collaborations Provide Robust Tests of Theories
According to Popper (1959) "We can say of a theory, provided it is falsifiable, that it rules out, or prohibits, not merely one occurrence, but always at least one event " (p. 70). I argue that, all else being equal, multi-site collaborations more robustly test theories than studies done at a single site at a single time by a single researcher because the data from a multi-site collaboration more robustly represent the theoretically falsifying event. Let's break down the key concepts of this argument. What is a multi-site collaboration? A multi-site collaboration is a study that involves a team of researchers at several locations who each test the same hypothesis. Often these collaborations use the same data collection procedures and same stimuli. Their individual results are then pooled together, often times in a meta-analysis, regardless of the results from any of the individual labs.* Thus, the features necessary to test the hypotheses are the same across all l
