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We can fabricate data, but we cannot fabricate the truth
When a renowned behavioural scientist gets embroiled in a case of fabricated data, there may be some lessons for us all
When a behavioural science paper is discovered to have been using fraudulent data, the field understandably experiences some mild, but distinct tremors. If the co-author who was responsible for the data happens to one of the field’s most famous scientists, the tremor becomes a proper shockwave. What has been going on?
Data detectives at work
It concerns a study from 2012, which suggested that asking individuals to sign a declaration of honesty at the beginning of a self-report form (rather than at the end, as usual) makes them complete it more honestly, based on two lab experiments and a field experiment. In the lab studies, for example, students completed puzzles and could claim money according to how many they had solved, as indicated on a form. The setup was such that it appeared to be possible for participants to overstate their performance without being caught (but in reality, the experimenters could compare their claimed results with their actual performance). In the field study, customers of an insurance company reported the actual odometer reading of their vehicle(s). In both…
