Sources of false positives and false negatives in the STATCHECK algorithm: Reply to Nuijten et al. (2016)

Abstract: STATCHECK is an R algorithm designed to scan papers automatically for inconsistencies between test statistics and their associated p values (Nuijten et al., 2016). The goal of this comment is to point out an important and well-documented flaw in this busily applied algorithm: It cannot handle corrected p values. As a result, statistical tests applying appropriate corrections to the p value (e.g., for multiple tests, post-hoc tests, violations of assumptions, etc.) are likely to be flagged as reporting inconsistent statistics, whereas papers omitting necessary corrections are certified as correct. The STATCHECK algorithm is thus valid for only a subset of scientific papers, and conclusions about the quality or integrity of statistical reports should never be based solely on this program.