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Data preprocessing is an integral step prior to analyzing data in psychological science, with implications for its potentially guiding policy. This article reports how psychological researchers address data preprocessing or quality concerns, with a focus on aberrant responses and missing data in self-report measures. 240 articles were sampled from four journals: Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Abnormal Psychology from 2012 to 2018. Nearly half of the studies did not report any missing data treatment (111/240; 46.25%), and if they did, the most common approach was listwise deletion (71/240; 29.6%). Studies that remove data due to missingness removed, on average, 12% of the sample. Likewise, most studies do not report any aberrant responses (194/240; 80%), but if they did, they classified 4% of the sample as suspect. Most studies are either not transparent enough about their data preprocessing steps or may be leveraging suboptimal procedures. Recommendations can improve transparency and data quality.
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Deviance as an historical artefact: a scoping review of psychological studies of body modification
Abstract Body modification is a blanket term for tattooing, piercing, scarring, cutting, and other forms of bodily alteration generally associated with fashion, identity, or cultural markings. Body modifications like tattooing and piercing have become so common in industrialised regions of the world that what were once viewed as marks of abnormality are now considered normal. However, the psychological motivations for body modification practices are still being investigated regarding deviance or risky behaviours, contributing to a sense in the academic literature that body modifications are both normal and deviant. We explored this inconsistency by conducting a scoping review of the psychological literature on body modifications under the assumption that the psychological and psychiatric disciplines set the standard for related research. We searched for articles in available online databases and retained those published in psychology journals or interdisciplinary journals where at least one author is affiliated with a Psychology or Psychiatry programme ( N = 94). We coded and tabulated the articles thematically, identifying five categories and ten subcategories. The most common category frames body modifications in general terms of risk, but other categories include health, identity, credibility/employability, and fashion/attractiveness. Trends in psychology studies seem to follow the shifting emphasis in the discipline from a clinical orientation regarding normality and abnormality to more complex social psychological approaches.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2017553
- PAR ID:
- 10405284
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2662-9992
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01511-6
