DETECTION OR ERECTION?:

The Scientific Contrarian: a review of SCIENCE FRICTION: Where the Known Meets the Unknown By Michael Shermer (George Scialabba, washington Post)

"Science," Michael Shermer writes, "is a great Baloney Detection Kit." Founder of the Skeptics Society, publisher of Skeptic magazine, columnist for Scientific American, editor of "The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience" and author of "Why People Believe Weird Things," Shermer is a veteran baloney detector. Fortunately, that is not all science is, or Shermer is.

Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct: Degrees of Deception Vary in Poll; Researchers Say Findings Could Hurt the Field (Rick Weiss, June 9, 2005, Washington Post)

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.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 11, 2005 7:19 PM