-PJ
Posted on 04/28/2013 6:19:32 PM PDT by Sir Napsalot
When you hear about well-regarded scientists making up data in their studies, it's easy to wonder, What were they thinking?
A New York Times Magazine .... profiled Diederik Stapel, a psychologist, former dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and author of at least 55 papers with totally made-up data. .....
The first time he did it followed a predictable story line. He tested a hypothesis, he didn't find the answer he wanted, and then he didn't want to have to redo the experiment or face the fact that he'd "wasted" all that time. "I said—you know what, I am going to create the data set," he told the New York Times Magazine.
Later, he kept making up data to support hypotheses that were interesting, yet believable. The magazine described him as researching old studies thoroughly before making anything up. It seems he wasn't avoiding hard work. He was avoiding the occasional (or frequent) failure that comes with honestly done science.
(snip) He has since been the subject of media scrutiny in the Netherlands and an unflattering university report about his personality. .... Meanwhile, his case has brought an uncomfortable light to the field of psychology. Each of Stapel's fraudulent papers was peer-reviewed. Other psychologists had analyzed them and judged them of worthy of going to print. If they missed nearly 10 years of fraud from Stapel—and it was a couple graduate students who ultimately blew the whistle on Stapel, not a peer review panel—what else did they miss?
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
Many researchers may not be as bold as Stapel, but may cherry-pick the data they want, or analyze it in a less-than-ideal way for their own ends. Their cumulative effect on what's considered known and true in psychology could be grave. (End excerpt)
Chemistry is a science.
Psychology is a primative artform.
/johnny
Science decided that they didn’t like the old accepted facts, so they have made up new accepted facts.
I used to reserve such criticism for the social sciences, but the hard sciences have proven themselves just as free with the facts, e.g. climate change.
Diederik Stapel, a psychologist,
***It figures. No real science here. Move along.
-PJ
/johnny
I don’t believe anything I haven’t satisfactorily verified for myself, including all the medical research I have to rely on in my practice.
Outside my area of expertise, I don’t even believe the hard sciences unless they are hard enough for engineers to verify the conclusions of the scientists with a widely proven contraption of some sort that has withstood the test of time.
Firearms come to mind. So do automobiles and planes, as well as BIC lighters, Gillette razors, and G2 Rollerball pens. Computers and electric can openers - not so much. Psychology - LOL!!!
Old-fashioned, Ludite, and proud of it.
I see a demon.
Does anyone remember the professor who made up his data on a pro gun control study. It was about early Americans not having very many guns at all.
He won a Pulitzer. I think he eventually got fired from Emory University in Atlanta.
-PJ
In the middle I see Obama with a crown or pressure cooker on his head. I see Obama’s ears so it must be him.
I don’t need some big fat ass barking in my ear telling me what to do.
No, wait a minute...
-PJ
He’s a psychologist of course it’s made up.
All of Stapel's 130 articles and 24 book chapters are under investigation by his former employer, Tilburg University in the Netherlands. The university suspended him in September 2011 and later discovered that, in addition to making up data, Stapel had allowed many of his students to graduate without ever completing an experiment. (Ref)
The gigantic fraud of global warming?
Does anyone remember the professor who made up his data on a pro gun control study
________________________
I remember the outcome fondly.
That was a guy named Belisle or something similar.
Yes that is the guy. I have no idea how to spell his name.
poor guy had to give back his Pulitzer.
It’s a lobster ready for the pot.
Man, you have way more imagination than me.
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