Replication is reanalysis of a study, building on a new data set that was constructed and statistically analyzed in the same way as the original work. Repeating the statistical analysis on the original data set is known as verification (or replication of the statistical analysis). Replicability should be maximized in both quantitative and qualitative works, as replication studies and verification of existing data sets may be extremely useful in evaluating the robustness of the original findings and in revealing new and interesting results.

Even if a given work will never actually be replicated, it still needs to be replicable, or else there is no possibility of refuting its findings; that is, it fails to hold the falsifiability criterion for scientific work. Because replicability is an underlying ...