Abstract
A quarter-century ago, during a period when belief in the robustness of classical tests on means was practically a professional shibboleth, a series of large, carefully controlled, and well-validated experiments and sampling studies (supplemented and supported by extensive mathematical derivations) dramatically showed that highly publicized claims of robustness were insufficiently qualified and that extreme nonrobustness could occur under perfectly reasonable experimental and testing conditions. When these findings were published in technical reports, they tended either to be ignored or to be so misrepresented and distorted by those who cited them as to make them appear to support, rather than question, the very claims of robustness they tended to refute. Attempts to publish these iconoclastic results in many of the most renowned professional journals were met with rejection based upon reviewer comments so illogical or fatuous as to be interpreted only as an indication of either contrived obstructionism or pathetic professional incompetence. Eventual acceptance by a few refereed journals could, in every case, be interpreted as a political-type fluke.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bevan, M. R., Denton, J. Q., & Myers, J. L. (1974). The robustness of the F test to violations of continuity and form of treatment population. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 27, 199–204.
Bradley, J. V. (1968). Studies in research methodology. Dissertation Abstracts (Monograph Section), 28, 4815B-4816B. (University Microfilms Nos. 68-7445, 68-7446, and 68-7447)
Bradley, J. V. (1973). The central limit effect for a variety of populations and the influence of population moments. Journal of Quality Technology, 5, 171–177.
Bradley, J. V. (1975). The optimal-pessimal paradox. Human Factors, 17, 321–327.
Bradley, J. V. (1977). A common situation conducive to bizarre distribution shapes. American Statistician, 31, 147–150.
Bradley, J. V. (1980a). Nonrobustness in classical tests on means and variances: A large-scale sampling study. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 15, 275–278.
Bradley, J. V. (1980b). Nonrobustness in one-sample Z and t tests: A large-scale sampling study. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 15, 29–32.
Bradley, J. V. (1980c). Nonrobustness in Z, t, and F tests at large sample sizes. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 16, 333–336.
Bradley, J. V. (1981). Pernicious publication practices. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 18, 31–34.
Bradley, J. V. (1982a). Editorial overkill. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 19, 271–274.
Bradley, J. V. (1982b). The insidious L-shaped distribution. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 20, 85–88.
Bradley, J. V. (1983). Paradox lost, paradox regained: Reply from a flagellated straw man. Bulletion of the Psychonomic Society, 21, 69–72.
Bradley, J. V. (1984). The complexity of nonrobustness effects. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 22, 250–253.
Donaldson, T. S. (1966). Power of the F-test for nonnormal distributions and unequal error variances (Memorandum No. RM-5072-PR). Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corporation.
Glass, G. V., Peckham, P. D., & Sanders, J. R. (1972). Consequences of failure to meet assumptions underlying the fixed effects analyses of variance and covariance. Review of Educational Research, 42, 237–288.
Govindarajulu, Z., & Leslie, R. T. (1972). Annotated bibliography on robustness studies of statistical procedures (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Publication No. (HSM) 72-1051). Rockville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
Mahoney, M. J. (1977). Publication prejudices: An experimental study of confirmatory bias in the peer review system. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 161–175.
Peters, D. P., & Ceci, S. J. (1982). Peer-review practices of psychological journals: The fate of published articles, submitted again. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5, 187–255.
Wire, E. L., & Church, J. D. (1982). Nonrobustness in F tests: 1. A replication and extension of Bradley’s study. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 20, 165–167.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bradley, J.V. Antinonrobustness: A case study in the sociology of science. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 463–466 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333878
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333878