Retrospective research

If there are any, it would be interesting to find out.

But I would like to sound one note of caution. According to the Scrum Guide:

…although implementing only parts of Scrum is possible, the result is not Scrum. Scrum exists only in its entirety…

So by opting to remove a Sprint Retrospective from Scrum, you're creating a state that is no longer Scrum, and undermining the entire framework.

Therefore such an experiment would not just be about the impact of the retrospective, but would also be assessing a broken state of Scrum.

I'm also not sure of any specific research, but I would point out that the retrospective is the only practice that is included in the Manifest for Agile Software Development:

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Scrum places the Sprint Retrospective within every Sprint, but if you were to remove the Sprint Retrospective, not only would you no longer be using Scrum, I would argue that you are no longer agile as you are not consistent with the values and principles.

@Irina Babenko Here is a study that might be in your point of interest: https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2353474/12962_FULLTEXT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y and here is an article that summarizes some findings: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/reflecting-on-work-improves-job-performance



To add something to Simon's and Thomas's posts, there is nothing special in Retrospective. Each event (or meeting) in its core depends on proper communication and participation of people who are "in the room". Defined purpose and agenda of an event (or meeting) such as retrospective helps participants to organize themself, their thought and enables them to participate in a way that maximizes the chance for achieving outcome / fulfilling the purpose.