Scientists unknowingly tweak experiments

BEN-HUR · Mar 26, 2015

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This issue associated with biasness (consciously or unconsciously) within science (or in some cases, just poor science) has been discussed on at least 2 threads i.e. “Sting” catches research journals publishing reports without vetting & Reproducing scientific results.

Thought I give this new study a new thread

- Paper: The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science
Published: March 13, 2015 •DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106

Abstract

A focus on novel, confirmatory, and statistically significant results leads to substantial bias in the scientific literature. One type of bias, known as “p-hacking,” occurs when researchers collect or select data or statistical analyses until nonsignificant results become significant. Here, we use text-mining to demonstrate that p-hacking is widespread throughout science. We then illustrate how one can test for p-hacking when performing a meta-analysis and show that, while p-hacking is probably common, its effect seems to be weak relative to the real effect sizes being measured. This result suggests that p-hacking probably does not drastically alter scientific consensuses drawn from meta-analyses.
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- Discussion article: Scientists unknowingly tweak experiments...

A new study has found some scientists are unknowingly tweaking experiments and analysis methods to increase their chances of getting results that are easily published.

The study conducted by ANU scientists is the most comprehensive investigation into a type of publication bias called p-hacking.

P-hacking happens when researchers either consciously or unconsciously analyse their data multiple times or in multiple ways until they get a desired result. If p-hacking is common, the exaggerated results could lead to misleading conclusions, even when evidence comes from multiple studies.

"We found evidence that p-hacking is happening throughout the life sciences," said lead author Dr Megan Head from the ANU Research School of Biology...

... "But greater awareness of p-hacking and its dangers is important because the implications of p-hacking may be different depending on the question you are asking."

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Hmmm... "depending on the question you are asking" (???)... & the topics some questions are asked in (per chance). I suspect some topics have more misdemeanours ("p-hacking") than others (but it best I don't go down that path).

- Other articles on "publication bias": http://phys.org/tags/publication bias/

Scientists unknowingly tweak experiments

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