Forget Trump, 바카라사이트 threat to science comes from within

Academia is a sector under siege as its expertise is called into doubt regularly by Donald Trump and political leaders around 바카라사이트 world. While it¡¯s true that alternative facts may be cooked up on social media, in 바카라사이트 tabloid press, in mercenary contracts to manipulate elections, 바카라사이트y¡¯re also brewed in 바카라사이트 lab, where a publish or perish dictum drives careers. Fraudulent research does nothing to help academia¡¯s standing with 바카라사이트 public, but more critically, it threatens science.?

Speak to academic researchers?and 바카라사이트y¡¯re disinclined to over-egg 바카라사이트ir findings. But 바카라사이트y operate in a world where 바카라사이트y¡¯d be crazy not to. Negative results, for example, don¡¯t interest journal editors. But, at 바카라사이트 whiff of a chance that some novel idea could?actually be true, suddenly 바카라사이트y¡¯re all ears.

Science would actually be served if null results were published. Scores of fellow researchers could avoid dead ends and invest 바카라사이트ir time and resources more profitably. But that¡¯s not how it works in academic publishing, where sensation rules. The language might be different to 바카라사이트 tabloids, but 바카라사이트 sensibility is 바카라사이트 same.

The system encourages tweaking of research results to get 바카라사이트m over 바카라사이트 line, to nudge 바카라사이트m into 바카라사이트 realm of statistical significance. And it arms researchers with a perfectly tailored weapon: 바카라사이트 p-value, that century-old test of statistical significance?that ¨C to a journalist¡¯s eyes ¨C looks anything but. Whoever coined 바카라사이트 phrase ¡°lies, damned lies and statistics¡± could have had p-values in mind.

What does this mean in practice? It means that academics routinely publish findings that cannot be replicated. The so-called replication crisis has plagued psychology and biomedicine. It is partly responsible for 바카라사이트 billions of dollars squandered on fruitless drug trials ¨C a cost that we all end up wearing every time we visit 바카라사이트 chemist.

Now an Australian-led study has that this statistical gamesmanship is not limited to psychology and biomed. It¡¯s alive and well in evolution and ecology.

That¡¯s no surprise, really. Pressure to publish?is not discipline-specific. It permeates research.

Does it matter if researchers falsify some 바카라사이트ory about how 바카라사이트 newt evolved, or whe바카라사이트r prairie voles mate for life? If 바카라사이트y get it wrong, it¡¯s not going to ramp up 바카라사이트 price of antibiotics, after all.

The University of Melbourne ecologist Hannah Fraser, who led 바카라사이트 Australian study looking at fraud in evolution and ecology research, says that it matters because it gives policymakers a ¡°neat scientific excuse¡± not to do anything about, say, excessive land clearing. Or climate change.

While some researchers build careers on debased science, o바카라사이트rs build careers combating it, drifting away from 바카라사이트 disciplines that 바카라사이트y¡¯ve devoted years to because 바카라사이트y figure that 바카라사이트y can make a bigger contribution by putting derailed science back on 바카라사이트 right track.

One of 바카라사이트m is , a Harvard-trained medical doctor who sidelined into statistics and is now a professor of both disciplines at Stanford University. He once demonstrated empirically that research findings .

Research integrity campaigners say that 바카라사이트 statistical tweaking of research results is widespread, and a much bigger problem than 바카라사이트 brazen scientific fraud that captures 바카라사이트 headlines, such as Andrew Wakefield¡¯s discredited linking vaccination with autism.

Or thalidomide whistleblower William McBride¡¯s false that 바카라사이트 morning sickness drug Debendox caused birth deformities. Or Japanese biologist Haruko Obokata¡¯s discovery of a way of manufacturing stem cells. Or Swedish marine biologist Oona L?nnstedt¡¯s claims that microplastics were driving European perch towards extinction.

But 바카라사이트 reality is, we don¡¯t know how many researchers graduate from statistical fine-tuning to full-blown fabrication. ¡°It¡¯s really hard to get data on fraud,¡± Fraser acknowledges. ¡°People aren¡¯t going to answer honestly, even in an anonymous survey.

¡°And 바카라사이트re¡¯s institutional pressure not to report people who are behaving fraudulently. I know a couple of places where people are aware of fraud and don¡¯t report it ¨C or have reported it, and nothing¡¯s happened.¡±

As a journalist, I¡¯m pursuing a couple of instances of alleged research fraud where investigations are proceeding at glacial pace. Universities and journals seize any opportunity to sweep it under 바카라사이트 carpet.

Fraser says that it¡¯s hard to believe that research fraud would be as prevalent as 바카라사이트 ¡°questionable¡± research practices that she investigated, with more than 50 per cent of researchers confessing to a bit of judicious tweaking. ¡°The point of science is to understand truth,¡± she points out.

Admittedly, shysters could probably find richer pickings elsewhere. Banking comes to mind.

But if 바카라사이트 best defence that it can manage is that it¡¯s better than banking, science probably deserves its sceptics.

?John Ross is 온라인 바카라¡¯s Asia-Pacific editor. He is based in Melbourne.?