Trustworthiness Assessment: Using Forensic Meta-Science#
Trustworthiness Assessment: Using Forensic Meta-Science is a free online textbook by Ian Hussey and Malte Elson (2026) developed for a Master’s-level seminar at the University of Bern. It provides a systematic, hands-on approach to evaluating the trustworthiness of scientific research using forensic meta-science methods.
The book is written in Quarto with all analyses implemented in R using {tidyverse}, and all materials are available on GitHub for download and local use.
Citation#
Hussey, I., & Elson, M. (2026). Trustworthiness Assessment: Using Forensic Meta-Science. https://ianhussey.quarto.pub/trustworthiness-assessment/
Structure#
The book is organized into four parts:
Part I: Concepts#
| Chapter | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Scope and need — why forensic meta-science is necessary |
| 2 | Psychological preparation — mindset and epistemic considerations |
| 3 | Organising principles — frameworks for structuring assessments |
Part II: Methods#
| Chapter | Topic |
|---|---|
| 4 | Interpretation methods — evaluating claims against reported evidence |
| 5 | Effect size methods — assessing plausibility of reported effect sizes |
| 6 | Repetition and consistency methods — detecting duplicated or inconsistent results |
| 7 | Recalculation methods — recomputing statistics from reported values |
| 8 | Granularity methods — GRIM, GRIMMER, and related tests for mathematical possibility |
| 9 | Bounds methods — checking whether statistics fall within possible ranges |
| 10 | Reconstruction, resampling, and simulation methods — SPRITE and related techniques |
| 11 | Design methods — evaluating study design for plausibility |
| 12 | Measurement methods — assessing measurement instruments and procedures |
| 13 | Theory specification methods — evaluating theoretical coherence |
| 14 | Data extraction methods — recovering data from figures and tables |
Part III: Organising#
| Chapter | Topic |
|---|---|
| 15 | Critiquing specific types of articles — applying methods to different article formats |
| 16 | INSPECT-SR — systematic approach to inspecting studies in systematic reviews |
| 17 | Organising critique — structuring and communicating findings |
| 18 | Reflexive critique — applying forensic scrutiny to one’s own work |
Appendices#
| Chapter | Topic |
|---|---|
| 19 | Lesson plan — guidance for teaching the material |
| 20 | License and citation |
Who is it for?#
The textbook is designed for Master’s students, researchers, and anyone who wants a structured, practical introduction to forensic meta-science. It assumes some familiarity with statistics and R, and provides exercises integrated into each chapter for hands-on learning.
Resources#
- Read the book — full text, freely available online
- GitHub repository — source materials for download and contribution