Junk Science

Post date: Aug 02, 2015 8:29:32 PM

Thankfully, we still publish retractions for faked data. But what we need to do is stop the flood of bullshit analyses. For example, we play with our data and find that with just the right combination of independent variables and techniques, we can get the result we want. It is not robust to any changes, so it is clearly artifactual. But that's what we publish.

http://retractionwatch.com/2015/07/27/oregon-grad-student-admits-to-faking-data-in-four-neuroscience-papers/

In this connection, it is illuminating to read Michael Polanyi's observations on the practice of science:

• Polanyi, Michael. "The Potential Theory of Adsorption." Science141, no. 3585 (1963): 1010-013. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.uky.edu/stable/1712330. [^pdf]