Science lies

I

infoterror

Registered Senior Member
Few scientists fabricate results from scratch or flatly plagiarize the work of others, but a surprising number engage in troubling degrees of fact-bending or deceit, according to the first large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior.

More than 5 percent of scientists answering a confidential questionnaire admitted to having tossed out data because the information contradicted their previous research or said they had circumvented some human research protections.

Ten percent admitted they had inappropriately included their names or those of others as authors on published research reports.

And more than 15 percent admitted they had changed a study's design or results to satisfy a sponsor, or ignored observations because they had a "gut feeling" they were inaccurate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/08/AR2005060802385.html
 
And this is why we filter research through rigorous (hopefully) peer review. And why the scientific community demands repeatable experimental results. Works pretty good.
 
So what?

Any conclusion worth a crap is backed by more than one study for this reason. Scientifically valid studies can and have been tailored to specific results.
 
I'd say the amount of scientists that manipulate data falls within a statistically acceptible margin.
 
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