[piasa]

Now begins the fun. Warwick Hughes, an Australian scientist, wondered where that “+/–” came from, so he politely wrote Phil Jones in early 2005, asking for the original data. Jones’s response to a fellow scientist attempting to replicate his work was, “We have 25 years or so invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?”

Whoah. Try using that reasoning on your engineering professor!

[21twelve]

“Why should I make the data available to you”

Many years ago had to review some work done at a Superfund site. The consultant made the same argument - he was a “Professional”, and it was only the results that mattered based on his interpretation of the data. Not the data itself.

When he was finally forced to give up the data it became obvious why he argued the fact. Sparse data, sometimes written in a field book, but more often than not on some random scrap of paper (including the backs of fast-food receipts and the paper sacks!) did not really instill confidence in the data. Or the consultant.