ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
The Gold Standard and the Pyrite Principle: Toward a Supplemental Frame of Reference.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 'Gold Standard' Origin Myth.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Psychopathy in adult male offenders from Latin America: an item response theory analysis of the self-report psychopathy-short form (SRP-SF).Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Digital Shade Matching in Dentistry: A Systematic Review.Dentistry journal · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In medicine and social sciences, the phrase "gold standard" is often used to characterize an object or procedure described as unequivocally the best in its genre, against which all others should be compared. Examples of this usage are readily available in rigorously peer-reviewed publications, touted by test publishers, and appear in descriptions of methodologies by social science researchers. The phrase does not accurately describe commonly accepted measures, tests, and instruments. Instead, the descriptor can be ambiguous and misleading. This paper presents an overview of the history of the gold standard and its current applications to medicine and the social sciences. We question the use of the phrase "the gold standard" and suggest the additional operational use of a "pyrite principle" as a less presumptuous frame of reference. In thinking about validity and standards, the pyrite principle permits an understanding of standards as authoritative rather than fixed constructs in behavioral and health sciences.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.