Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. In a series originally published in early 2024, we talk to whistleblowers, reformers, and a co-author who got caught up in the chaos. (Part 1 of 2) SOURCES:Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science. RESOURCES:"More Than 10,000 Research Papers Were Retracted in 2023 — a New Record," by Richard Van Noorden (Nature, 2023)."Data Falsificada (Part 1): 'Clusterfake,'" by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2023)."Fabricated Data in Research About Honesty. You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Or, Can You?" by Nick Fountain, Jeff Guo, Keith Romer, and Emma Peaslee (Planet Money, 2023).Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop, by Max Bazerman (2022)."Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2021)."False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Psychological Science, 2011). EXTRAS:"Why Do We Cheat, and Why Shouldn’t We?" by No Stupid Questions (2023)."Is Everybody Cheating These Days?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).
Full Episode
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. Over the holidays, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite series from this past year about a set of research scandals that have rocked the academic world. When we first played these episodes, we heard from a lot of listeners, including one who teaches AP research at a high school in Frisco, Texas. He made a crossword puzzle for his students based on our series.
Here's one clue. 39 across, five letters. The active fabrication of data is called... I'll give you a hint. The title of the episode you're about to hear is Why is there so much fraud in academia? We have updated facts and figures where necessary. Next week in part two, we will have an update from one of the fraud fighters. As always, thanks for listening.
A couple of years ago, Francesca Gino was, there's really no other way of putting it. She was a superstar, an academic superstar, at least.
She was at the center of everything. Being a prestigious faculty member at Harvard and all of her public speaking and her books. Her reputation was perfect. She was synonymous with the highest levels of research in organizational behavior. She's just a giant in the field.
The field in which Gino is a giant, where her reputation was perfect, is variously called behavioral science or decision science or organizational psychology.
According to her website at the Harvard Business School, where she has been a professor of business administration, Gino's research focuses on why people make the decisions they do at work and how leaders and employees can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. Who wouldn't want that?
Gino became a superstar by publishing a great number of research papers in academic journals as well as a couple of books. Her latest is called Rebel Talent, Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life. She produced the kind of camera-ready research that plays perfectly into the virtuous circle of academic superstars.
A journal article is amplified by the publisher or university into the mainstream media, which feeds a headline to all the firms and institutions who are eager to exploit the next behavioral science insight. And this, in turn, generates an even greater appetite for more useful research. The academic who is capable of steadily producing such work is treated almost like an oracle.
There are TED talks to be given, books to be written, consulting jobs to be had. Francesca Gino, for instance, gave talks or consulted for Google, Disney, Walmart, for the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy, and many more. But that's all over for now.
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