New research has questioned the reliability of neuroscience
studies, saying that conclusions could be misleading due to small sample sizes.
A team led by academics from the University of Bristol
reviewed 48 articles on neuroscience meta-analysis which were published in 2011
and concluded that most had an average power of around 20 per cent – a finding
which means the chance of the average study discovering the effect being
investigated is only one in five.
The paper, being published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience
today [10 April], reveals that small, low-powered studies are ‘endemic’ in
neuroscience, producing unreliable research which is inefficient and wasteful.