The study of research itself—its methods, reporting, biases, incentives, and cultural practices. Also called "research on research," it’s the science of how science gets done (and often goes wrong). Meta-research audits disciplines for problems like publication bias, p-hacking, low statistical power, and irreproducibility. It doesn't discover new facts about the universe; it diagnoses the health of the processes we use to make those discoveries, acting as the immune system for academia.
*Example: A Meta-Research project analyzes 1,000 published psychology studies and finds that 90% of them used sample sizes too small to reliably detect the effects they were looking for. This doesn't debunk any specific psychological theory, but it casts doubt on the entire evidentiary foundation of the field, prompting a credibility crisis and reform.*
by Dumu The Void February 4, 2026
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