[en] Cheating in Science: Harvard "Honesty Scholar" May Have Been Caught in Dishonesty

"... dishonesty can lead to creativity" - an interesting and somewhat amusing read.

The New York Times: "Questions about a widely cited paper are the latest to be raised about methods used in #behavioral research."

https://datacolada.org/111

#ResearchHighlights #honesty #dishonesty #phacking #harking #dredging #gino #harvard #fraud #cheating #academic #datacolada

I just had a long discussion with a colleague who is about to start a complex and burdensome #experiment whose design imho is flawed. I'm well aware my reasoning might be wrong. What troubles me is the handwaving way specific experimental design questions, e.g.:
- What are you going to measure as result?
- X and Y frequency
- How will you interpret if Y is say 20%?
- We could theorise, but we'll do the experiment instead, we'll see when we get the results...
#harking #reproducibility #science

@tedpavlic I'm sure it's not the intention - indeed they add a cautionary note - but this kind of advice leads to HARKing & other questionable research practices that massage research into a neat narrative.

It's the antithesis of #OpenScience practices like #RegisteredReports. You should start with a research question, a summary of what is known, & then the methods. Post-hoc theorising must be declared. It keeps you honest.

#WritingTips #ResearchWriting #HARKing #QRPs #PublicationEthics