The SSSPIN study—spin in studies of spin: meta-research analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To identify and calculate the prevalence of spin in studies of spin. DESIGN: Meta-research analysis (research on research). SETTING: 35 studies of spin in the scientific literature. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Spin, categorised as: reporting practices that distort the presentation and interpretation of results, creating misleading conclusions; discordance between results and their interpretation, with presentation of favourable conclusions that are not supported by the data or results; attribution of causality when study design does not support it; and over-interpretation or inappropriate extrapolation of results. RESULTS: Five (14%) of 35 spin studies contained spin categorised as reporting practices that distort the presentation and interpretation of results (n=2) or categorised as over-interpretation or inappropriate extrapolation of results (n=3). CONCLUSION: Spin occurs in research on spin. Although researchers on this topic should be sensitive to spinning their findings, our study does not undermine the need for rigorous interventions to reduce spin across various research fields. CONCLUSION WITH SPIN: Our hypothesis that spin will be less prevalent in spin studies than in studies on other topics has been proven. Spin scholars are less likely to spin their conclusions than other researchers, and they should receive substantial resources to launch and test interventions to reduce spin and research waste in reporting.

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