Scientific retractions and fraud explored - podcast
by Hannah Devlin from on (#B1JM)
Do big research step-downs reflect a general problem with science and scientific publishing?
In December, a study published in Science magazine caused waves after appearing to show that speaking to a gay canvasser for just 20 minutes could radically shift people's views in favour of same-sex marriage. Last month, the journal retracted the study after the first author, Michael LaCour, was unable to provide the raw data for the study and admitted to lying about financial incentives provided to participants.
It's by no means the first example of a big step-down, from apparently innocent mistakes to outright fabrication and fraud. We look at how and why scientific research goes wrong, and whether these big retractions are linked by common themes that could help both scientists and publishers prevent them from being repeated.
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