So what's the big deal if a scientist cheats a little bit to get some media attention, a promotion, a government grant? Isn't science "self-correcting?" Isn't this why scientific observations must be repeatable?
Well, it is a big deal. If a scientist publishes or announces a new result, other scientists depend on it being an honest report. Certainly other scientists will be skeptical of new results and certainly, if the result is important enough, scientists will begin to try to duplicate the result in their own labs. Are they looking for dishonesty? No. People make mistakes, and scientists are people. It is extremely easy to overlook something or make a mistake in a complex investigation, and this often happens.
Also, so many new results are published, that in practice, not all of them are repeated. A scientist may read the report of some experiment, and incorporate these results into her work. If the report is in error, the second scientist's work will suffer. Eventually, the problem will be discovered, but at a great cost in time or effort. Many of the reported cases of scientific dishonesty over the last twenty years or so have been in the area of medical research. During the years that it takes to get these cases straightened out, people get sick and die - perhaps needlessly. That's a really big deal.
So what's the big deal if a scientist cheats a little bit to get some media attention, a promotion, a government grant? Isn't science "self-correcting?" Isn't this why scientific observations must be repeatable?Well, it is a big deal. If a scientist publishes or announces a new result, other scientists depend on it being an honest report. Certainly other scientists will be skeptical of new results and certainly, if the result is important enough, scientists will begin to try to duplicate the result in their own labs. Are they looking for dishonesty? No. People make mistakes, and scientists are people. It is extremely easy to overlook something or make a mistake in a complex investigation, and this often happens.Also, so many new results are published, that in practice, not all of them are repeated. A scientist may read the report of some experiment, and incorporate these results into her work. If the report is in error, the second scientist's work will suffer. Eventually, the problem will be discovered, but at a great cost in time or effort. Many of the reported cases of scientific dishonesty over the last twenty years or so have been in the area of medical research. During the years that it takes to get these cases straightened out, people get sick and die - perhaps needlessly. That's a really big deal.
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