Fraud Case Seen as a Red Flag for Psychology Research

From The New York Times
Fraud Case Seen as a Red Flag for Psychology Research
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/health/research/noted-dutch-psychologist-stapel-accused-of-research-fraud.html

...

The scandal, involving about a decade of work, is the latest in a string of embarrassments in a field that critics and statisticians say badly needs to overhaul how it treats research results. In recent years, psychologists have reported a raft of findings on race biases, brain imaging and even extrasensory perception that have not stood up to scrutiny. Outright fraud may be rare, these experts say, but they contend that Dr. Stapel took advantage of a system that allows researchers to operate in near secrecy and massage data to find what they want to find, without much fear of being challenged.

“The big problem is that the culture is such that researchers spin their work in a way that tells a prettier story than what they really found,” said Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “It’s almost like everyone is on steroids, and to compete you have to take steroids as well.”

...

results are massaged/fudged for the desired results for exec. presentations. IMO this affects the entire culture, not just psychology research. We lie a lot in today's world.

B.F. Skinner.

harshly criticize at least 75% of the peer-reviewed research papers that you cite in work that you submit for academic credit?

Second question: Can you get an undergraduate degree with a major in psychology if you rely upon the presumed correctness of at least 75% of the peer-reviewed research papers that you cite in work that you submit for academic credit?

If the answer to the first question is "no" and the answer to the second question is "yes", then we might conclude that it's no surprise to professors of psychology that a lot of garbage is produced and published under the administrative umbrella of psychology.

It's conceivable that there's disagreement about exactly which papers are garbage, but it seems that everybody agrees that if debunking garbage in psychology were a way to earn a major in psychology, then it would be too easy to earn a major in psychology.

:rofl:

:evilgrin:

context.

People have always wanted something without doing the work to get it.