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Browse the failure-mode index

302 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures in Social Sciences. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

Educational aspirations among ethnic minority youth in Brussels: Does the perception of ethnic discrimination in the labour market matter? A mixed-method approach

Céline Teney, Perrine Devleeshouwer, Laurie Hanquinet · 2013 · Ethnicities

Ethnic disparities in educational aspirations and choices are important to comprehend ethnic education inequality. Based on a mixed-method approach (3121 questionnaires and 40 interviews of pupils), this article investigates ethnic…

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

Trust It or Not

Haeseung Seo, Aiping Xiong, Dongwon Lee · 2019

Despite increased interests in the study of fake news, how to aid users' decision in handling suspicious or false information has not been well understood. To obtain a better understanding on the impact of warnings on individuals' fake…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Physical injury and workplace assault in UK mental health trusts: An analysis of formal reports

Laoise Renwick, Mary Lavelle, G. BRENNAN et al. · 2016 · International Journal of Mental Health Nursing

Workplace violence is a significant problem for health service personnel, with National Health Service (NHS) workers subject to 68 683 physical assaults between 2013 and 2014. Almost 70% of assaults occur in the mental health sector, and…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Maternal exposure to intimate partner abuse before birth is associated with autism spectrum disorder in offspring

Andrea L. Roberts, Kristen Lyall, Janet W. Rich‐Edwards et al. · 2015 · Autism

We sought to determine whether maternal (a) physical harm from intimate partner abuse during pregnancy or (b) sexual, emotional, or physical abuse before birth increased risk of autism spectrum disorder. We calculated risk ratios for…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence

Myra Cheng, Cinoo Lee, Pranav Khadpe et al. · 2026 · Science

Despite rising concerns about sycophancy—excessive agreement or flattery from artificial intelligence (AI) systems—little is known about its prevalence or consequences. We show that sycophancy is widespread and harmful. Across 11 state-of-the-art models, AI affirmed users’ actions 49% more often than humans, even when queries involved deception, illegality, or other harms. In three preregistered experiments ( N = 2405), even a single interaction with sycophantic AI reduced participants’ willingness to take responsibility and repair interpersonal conflicts, while increasing their conviction tha

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

The Role of Religious Support in Reentry

Richard Stansfield, Thomas J. Mowen, Thomas P. O’Connor et al. · 2016 · Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency

Objective: Research on the relationship between religion and criminal recidivism has produced encouraging but ultimately inconclusive findings. This study offers a new direction for studying the role of religious support in reentry,…

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

When are victims unlikely to cooperate with the police?

Richard B. Felson, Brendan Lantz · 2015 · Aggressive Behavior

Data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) are used to examine the tendency for victims of physical assault, sexual assault, and robbery to refuse to cooperate with the police (N= 3,856,171). Analyses of physical…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Failure to CAPTCHA Attention: Null Results from an Honesty Priming Experiment in Guatemala

Stewart Kettle, Marco Hernandez, Mike Sanders et al. · 2017 · Behavioral Sciences

We report results from a large online randomised tax experiment in Guatemala. The trial involves short messages and choices presented to taxpayers as part of a CAPTCHA pop-up window immediately before they file a tax return, with the aim of priming honest declarations. In total our sample includes 627,242 taxpayers and 3,232,430 tax declarations made over four months. Treatments include: honesty declaration; information about public goods; information about penalties for dishonesty, questions allowing a taxpayer to choose which public good they think tax money should be spent on; or questions

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Fuzzy constructs in technology usage scales

Brittany I Davidson, Heather Shaw, David A. Ellis · 2022 · Computers in Human Behavior

The mass adoption of digital technologies raises questions about how they impact people and society. Associations between technology use and negative correlates (e.g., depression and anxiety) remain common. However, pre-registered studies have failed to replicate these findings. Regardless of direction, many designs rely on psychometric scales that claim to define and quantify a construct associated with technology engagement. These often suggest clinical manifestations present as disorders or addictions. Given their importance for research integrity, we consider what these scales might be mea

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Assessing Rothstein's critique of teacher value-added models

Josh Kinsler · 2012 · Quantitative Economics

Value-added models of teacher effectiveness yield consistent estimates of teacher quality under the assumption that students are randomly assigned to classrooms conditional on ability. Rothstein (2010) tested and rejected this underlying…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

M.B. Ogunniyi, Christiana Ogonna Igberi · 2014 · VNU Journal of Science: Natural Sciences and Technology (Vietnam National University)

Many developing countries are competing to attract foreign direct investment with a belief that it can be a tool for poverty reduction because it serves as supplements to domestic savings and it is often accompanied with technology and…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Get a room: the role of classroom space in sustained implementation of studio style instruction

Alexis V. Knaub, Kathleen Foote, Charles Henderson et al. · 2016 · International Journal of STEM Education

The characteristics of the classroom environment play an important role in shaping teaching practices and supporting research-based instructional strategies. One instructional strategy that has reimagined the classroom is the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-Down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP). SCALE-UP uses studio-style instruction to facilitate student collaboration. Although there is significant interest in studio-style instruction, there is not much research-based guidance available for institutions interested in setting up a classroom, especially for secondary users interes

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Modular Distance Learning: Its Effect in the Academic Performance of Learners in the New Normal

Janina Molina Dargo, Michelle Dimas · 2021 · JETL (Journal Of Education Teaching and Learning)

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, schools, particularly in the rural areas employed Modular Distance Learning (MDL) to ensure education continuity. This study seeks to investigate the effects of MDL in the academic performance of learners whether…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Work–family reconciliation policies and women’s and mothers’ labor market outcomes in rich democracies

David Brady, Agnes Blome, Julie A. Kmec · 2018 · Socio-Economic Review

Abstract Prominent research has claimed that work–family reconciliation policies trigger ‘tradeoffs’ and ‘paradoxes’ in terms of gender equality with adverse labor market consequences for women. These claims have greatly influenced debates…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Success, Failure or "No Significant Difference"? The Arguments For and Against Technology as a Learning Tool

Mary Burns · 2013 · International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)

The question of whether computers have positively or negatively impacted student learning is still hotly contested in educational technology circles, particularly in the area of international development, by proponents and critics of technology in education. Overall, research still provides conflicting answers to this question. Nonetheless, the abundant research on effective school change and innovation implementation points to practices which those who promote technology in schools should tap. This paper outlines the long-term structural conditions that can lead to the deep change technology

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The Reputational Consequences of Failed Replications and Wrongness Admission among Scientists

Adam K. Fetterman, Kai Sassenberg · 2015 · PLoS ONE

Scientists are dedicating more attention to replication efforts. While the scientific utility of replications is unquestionable, the impact of failed replication efforts and the discussions surrounding them deserve more attention. Specifically, the debates about failed replications on social media have led to worry, in some scientists, regarding reputation. In order to gain data-informed insights into these issues, we collected data from 281 published scientists. We assessed whether scientists overestimate the negative reputational effects of a failed replication in a scenario-based study. Sec

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

Bringing Back the System

Jolanda Jetten, S. Alexander Haslam, Fiona Kate Barlow · 2012 · Social Psychological and Personality Science

Why are conservatives happier than liberals? Napier and Jost (2008) argue that this is because conservative ideology has a palliative (system-justifying) function that protects conservatives’ (but not liberals’) happiness. We develop…

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

The Effectiveness of Video Quizzes in a Flipped Class

Lisa L. Lacher, Mark C. Lewis · 2015

The use of online videos and flipped classrooms is a natural fit for many CS courses, especially in the introductory sequence, and the use of these techniques is growing. However, the benefits of these techniques depend heavily on student…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management programme and its impact on teachers’ professional self‐efficacy, work‐related stress, and general well‐being: Results from the STARS randomized controlled trial

Rachel Hayes, Daniel Titheradge, Kate Allen et al. · 2019 · British Journal of Educational Psychology

BACKGROUND: Teaching is a stressful occupation with poor retention. The Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) programme is a training programme that research has demonstrated may be an effective intervention for improving…

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

Race, Ethnicity, and Structural Variations in Youth Risk of Arrest

Tia Stevens Andersen · 2015 · Criminal Justice and Behavior

Missing from the considerable body of literature on disproportionate minority contact is an examination of the factors that influence risk of juvenile arrest. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, the author examines…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Corrections of political misinformation: no evidence for an effect of partisan worldview in a US convenience sample

Ullrich K. H. Ecker, Brandon K. N. Sze, Matthew Andreotta · 2021 · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Misinformation often has a continuing effect on people's reasoning despite clear correction. One factor assumed to affect post-correction reliance on misinformation is worldview-driven motivated reasoning. For example, a recent study with an Australian undergraduate sample found that when politically situated misinformation was retracted, political partisanship influenced the effectiveness of the retraction. This worldview effect was asymmetrical, that is, particularly pronounced in politically conservative participants. However, the evidence regarding such worldview effects (and their symmetr

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Private Environmental Governance

Michael P. Vandenbergh, Paul C Stern · 2026

Abstract Government laws and policies have produced substantial gains in environmental quality, but they have failed to achieve climate mitigation goals. Elinor Ostrom explored how resource users developed nongovernmental institutions to…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

No Significant Difference in Service Learninng Online

Sue Y. McGorry · 2012 · Online Learning

Institutions of higher education are realizing the importance of service learning initiatives in developing awareness of students’ civic responsibilities, leadership and management skills, and social responsibility. These skills and…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

Does Severity of Physical Neglect Moderate the Impact of an Efficacious Preventive Intervention for Maltreated Children in Foster Care?

Heather N. Taussig, Sara E. Culhane, Edward F. Garrido et al. · 2012 · Child Maltreatment

Physically neglected youth are at increased risk of mental health problems, but there are few interventions that have demonstrated efficacy in reducing mental health symptoms for this vulnerable population. The Fostering Healthy Futures…

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Negative / Null Result ReportSocial Sciences

Framing Effects on Privacy Concerns about a Home Telepresence Robot

Matthew Rueben, Frank J. Bernieri, Cindy Grimm et al. · 2017

Privacy-sensitive robotics is an emerging area of HRI research. Judgments about privacy would seem to be context-dependent, but none of the promising work on contextual "frames" has focused on privacy concerns. This work studies the impact…

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