Science: the slow march of accumulating evidence

Recent crises over the credibility of research in psychology and the biomedical sciences have highlighted the need for researchers to view and treat replication research as essential to the accumulation of knowledge. In this article, the authors make the case for the utility of replication in medical education research. Specifically, the authors contend that because research in medical education often adopts theories from other disciplines, replication is necessary to gauge the applicability of those theories to the specific medical education context. This article introduces readers to the two major types of replication – direct and conceptual – and provides a primer on conceptual replication. In particular, the article presents key elements of conceptual replication and considers how it can be used to strengthen approaches to knowledge generation, theory testing, and theory development in medical education research.