THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN ATTENTION CONTROL METHODS AND P-HACKING

The objective of the paper is to identify and specify the role that attention control methods play in the context of p-hacking. The research was based on quantitative case study. The sample consisted of 1,067 respondents from a nationwide Polish survey on life satisfaction related to nutrition. Covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) and a suite of statistical methods for detecting inattentive respondents were employed to analyse the data. The paper demonstrates that by using ex post methods to detect inattentive respondents, statistically insignificant hypotheses can be changed to statistically significant ones. This suggests ease and limitless of unethical p-hacking practices that can be related to attention control methods. Reducing unethical behaviour associated with the use of attention control methods requires a combination of ex ante planning for the application of these methods and the pre-registration of research protocols, including specification of methods and cut-off criteria used. Additionally, it necessitates sensitizing authors and reviewers to the importance of transparently reporting ex post attention control methods applied in the studies. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on questionable research practices and the replication crisis in social sciences. It provides a novel example of how attention control methods can be a source of p-hacking practices, an issue not previously addressed in the literature.