*(A characteristic of a study promotes “appraisability” if it assists with others accessing information required to rigorously evaluate the credibility of the study’s findings.)
We are documenting appraisability-related characteristics of quantitative empirical studies related to implicit bias research and its limitations.
Specifically, we are documenting indicia of appraisability of the quantitative empirical studies cited by Jerry Kang, What Judges Can Do about Implicit Bias, 57 CT. REV. 78 (2021). We are also documenting indicia of appraisability of the quantitative empirical studies that we cite in our article that assesses implicit bias research and its application to legal issues, titled “Metaresearch, Psychology, and Law: A Case Study on Implicit Bias” (forthcoming 2023 in Connecticut Law Review).
Our purpose is to create a method authors can use to disclose the basic appraisability of quantitative studies cited to support factual claims.
We acknowledge that this approach has limitations. Notably, we will caution readers that they should not take these observable appraisability indicators as gauges for the validity or quality of the studies they are associated with. Rather, more appraisable studies are simply more susceptible to evaluation by communities of researchers, which makes correction of the scientific record possible and easier.
