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Many Scientists Admit Unethical Practices

Posted by Zonk on from the only-human dept.

jangobongo writes "A surprising number of scientists engage in questionable research practices says a story at the Washington Post. According to a large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior, 15% admit to changing a study under pressure from a funding source. Other reasons for altering data include dropping data from a study based on a gut feeling and failing to include data that contradicts one's own research. This chart gives a quick rundown of the percentage of U.S. based scientists who reported having engaged in questionable research practices according to the survey."

25 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. so by derxob · · Score: 4, Funny

    does this mean pigs can fly? have we had the cure for cancer all along??
    I want my mommie.

    --
    Beat the computer, program your life.
  2. Ethics by PhotoJim · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next they'll be telling us that politicians aren't ethical either. :) People are always tempted to take the easy route...

    1. Re:Ethics by Eric+Giguere · · Score: 2, Funny

      In further news, 90% of scientists who were surveyed admitted to lying on surveys at least 60% of the time...

  3. I've got one thing going for me! by turtledawn · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I did my last research project, I had no clue what my results meant and made that clear in my paper!

    This was an undergraduate ornithology project that was supposed to take six weeks, according to my advisor. Every professor I've told about it since then has said, that's graduate level at least...

    --
    Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
    1. Re:I've got one thing going for me! by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 4, Funny

      You got that straight, buster! Measuring the airspeed velocity of coconut-laden swallows is not for undergrads! You must be a fully-trained scientist. With scales, and at least one duck.

      --
      And the brethren went away edified.
  4. I for one by Microsift · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't trust the science behind this story!

    --
    My other sig is extremely clever...
  5. Most Famous Unethical Scientist by JJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    It had to be the Professor of Gilligan's Island fame. If he could come up with a car, fix the radio, etc. don't you think he could have come up with a way to fix the boat.

    In truth he just liked the attention of hanging out with Ginger, the movie star and Maryanne, the girl next door.

    --
    So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
    1. Re:Most Famous Unethical Scientist by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny


      He could have fixed the boat anytime he wanted...but then they would have gone back to civilization, where he was just a nerdy little nobody.

      On that island, the Professor was God.

      --
      ____

      ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    2. Re:Most Famous Unethical Scientist by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 2, Funny


      My vote's for Professor Farnsworth:


      "Everyone's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a Great White shark -- oh, suddenly you've gone too far!"
      --
      ____

      ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    3. Re:Most Famous Unethical Scientist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The Professor was the alpha male on the island. Let's face it, who would give up the opportunity to have threesomes with Ginger and Mary Ann. This also explains why Mr. Howell and the Skipper were always so angry: they were stuck having to share Mrs. Howell. Gilligan did not have much problem with the arrangment, being largely asexual. Note that Mary Ann makes some moves to pull Gilligan into their fold, but he remains oblivious to the advances.

      Much of the Skipper's anger towards Gilligan is due to his own inability to repress his sexual urges. When he copulates with Mrs. Howell, he comes to hate himself for what he has become. He is disgusted by his behavior, always vowing to never fornicate with her again, but in the end he cannot control his male sexual nature. Gilligan represents all that he can never be: a celibate, monastic existence, free from all of the trials of adult life. He is like Peter Pan, transcending his finite nature, unconcerned with the trivialities of primal sexual urges, embracing that which lies beyond the trivialities of the human fixation on sex: the infinite.

      The Professor never views Gilligan as a threat, so he is always quite nice to him. Notice how the entire show is an allegory for man's relation to nature. When cast back into this primal environment, the man who is focused on the now, and the man who is focused on the eternities, is able to thrive. In this way, both the Professor and Gilligan are able to adapt readily to the environment, despite being on opposite ends of the spectrum. It is those who are unable to cope with their nature who are driven mad. The Skipper represents the existential condition of the modern, unenlightened man. He lies between the degenerate excess of the Professor's sexual adventures and the refined intellectualism of Gilligan's silent philosophical queries. Wanting to deny his human fixation on sex, but unable to comprehend his nature as a finite being, he comes to lay in a form of limbo, never embracing the transcendent, always face to face with the utter banality of his existence.

      In the end of each episode, Gilligan ends up destroying whatever replica of civilization that has been constructed. Note that the Professor is generally annoyed, but definitely not on the level of the Skipper. The Skipper is driven insane by his doubts, and wishes to get off the island at all cost. He is too weak to face who he is, and unwilling to accept his position in the world. Gilligan gives off the air of it all being an accident, but deep down he is trying to teach them something; and by extension, teaching all of us an important lesson. That we do not have to become fixated on human qualities, on sexual primacy, on the cult of civilization. That by denouncing our material desires, we can come to a fuller spiritual life, one where we become closer to God, intertwined with the eternities, to live forever in the hearts and minds of humanity.

      And besides, I bet Mary Ann gave some awesome blowjobs.

  6. Is there any way... by Triped · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is there any way to say that this isn't surprising without being considered a troll?

    1. Re:Is there any way... by AppHack · · Score: 2, Funny

      No.

      Please mod the parent as a troll. Thank You. :-)

  7. Don't listen to this. by kjeldor · · Score: 5, Funny

    The person who wrote conducted this research lied about the results. There are actually no researches whatsoever who falsify data.

  8. Quote board at Northwestern... by jeblucas · · Score: 2, Funny

    My wife worked in a group at Northwestern that kept a greaseboard of in-jokes made by the various members. My favorite was always, "Let red denote the fabricated data..." It just sounds so natural.

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    blarg.
  9. Dr. Strangelove... by d_p · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...unavailable for comment.

  10. More proof that evolution is bullsh*t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Well what do you know! Scientists YET AGAIN caught lying, cheating and stealing in an attempt to "prove" their idiotic and discredited theories. Why am I not surprised? Universities, the philosophical home of science, has long been a haven for anti-Americanism and liberalism, environmentalism and other destructive movements. Science has time and time again been plauged by hoaxes and lies and yet people still blindle follow it as if it were Truth.


    God is the only Truth, people. And until our constitution is amended to set this in stone, we will ALL be under threat of the whims of the unethical, godless special interest groups. This simply CANNOT BE ALLOWED.

  11. Re:Fortunately... by Approaching.sanity · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean like the reformation?

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    RTFA again for the best results.
  12. Re:Fortunately... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny


    Actually, religion doesn't change as much as it forks.

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  13. Understand science better... by KingofSpades · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... with the help of this online english/"science" language companion.

  14. And we should trust these numbers? by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Funny
    15% admit to changing a study under pressure

    Reached for comment, the researchers admitted that the actual number was 9%, but they felt some scientists were not willing to admit their wrong-doing, and their editor wasn't going to publish the story unless the number was at least 15%.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  15. Re:Fortunately... by bluGill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eventually. You gotta admit that having the earth open up and swallow those who get it wrong is a lot quicker method of getting the right result though.

  16. Re:The study used loaded questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    After you exposed your subjects to high intensity radiation, wouldn't you through out the data? That's what I always do.

  17. The irony by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 2, Funny

    According to a large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior, 15% admit to changing a study under pressure from a funding source.

    In other news, the scientists who conducted the survey are now admitting they fabricated the survey results.

    --
    Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
  18. Re:The study used loaded questions by Jtheletter · · Score: 2, Funny
    The question to which 15% said yes was whether you'd ever changed the procedure, methodology, or results of an experiment in response to pressure from a funding source.

    Reminds me of one of Mitch Hedberg's bits:
    "They asked me a lot of questions, but they were worded funny, like, 'Have you ever tried sugar...or PCP?'"

    Good ol' Mitch, he is missed.

    --
    -- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
  19. Re:Fortunately... by bawdymonkey · · Score: 2, Funny
    Actually, religion doesn't change as much as it forks.
    And in Soviet Russia, religion forks you!... Or is that in the Catholic church?

    What....Too soon?

    (To anyone who might be offended, I mean no offense...It's just a joke!)