Fascinating first person account by a psychologist who faked data
The scientist: Diederik Stapel. A Dutch social psychologist. He wrote a book explaining the context and how one thing led to another until he was caught. Nick Brown translated it into English. Freely available here:
http://nick.brown.free.fr/stapel
Page 101:
I also became increasingly skilled in the use of techniques that could put a healthy-
looking shine on otherwise mediocre results. If I didn’t get the effect I wanted across all the
different measures I’d used or the questions I’d asked, I would use the ones that did show
that effect. If an effect was present in an experiment, but not strongly enough to be tapped
by all of the types of measurements I’d used, I would make it stronger by combining the measures where the effect seemed to be only partly working. ...
Page 102:
After years of balancing on the outer limits, the gray became darker and darker until
it was black, and I fell off the edge into the abyss. I’d been having trouble with my
experiments for some time. Even with my various “gray” methods for “improving” the data,
I wasn’t able to get the results the way I wanted them. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go wanted it so badly. I wanted to belong, to be part of the action, to score. I really, really wanted to be really, really good. I wanted to be published in the best journals
and speak in the largest room at conferences. I wanted people to hang on my every word
as I headed for coffee or lunch after delivering a lecture. I felt very alone.
p103
I was alone in my tastefully furnished office at the University of Groningen. I’d taken
extra care when closing the door, and made my desk extra tidy. Everything had to be neat
and orderly. No mess. I opened the computer file with the data that I had entered and
changed an unexpected 2 into a 4; then, a little further along, I changed a 3 into a 5. It
didn’t feel right. I looked around me, nervously. The data danced in front of my eyes.
When the results are just not quite what you’d so badly hoped for; when you know that that
hope is based on a thorough analysis of the literature; when this is your third experiment
on this topic and the first two worked great; when you know that there are other people
doing similar research elsewhere who are getting good results; then, surely, you’re entitled
to adjust the results just a little?
Nicole Rust /
npub1cu…0zuw2
2024-02-24 21:43:55
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2024-02-24 21:43:55Event JSON
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"content": "Fascinating first person account by a psychologist who faked data\n\nThe scientist: Diederik Stapel. A Dutch social psychologist. He wrote a book explaining the context and how one thing led to another until he was caught. Nick Brown translated it into English. Freely available here:\n\nhttp://nick.brown.free.fr/stapel\n\nPage 101:\n\nI also became increasingly skilled in the use of techniques that could put a healthy-\nlooking shine on otherwise mediocre results. If I didn’t get the effect I wanted across all the\ndifferent measures I’d used or the questions I’d asked, I would use the ones that did show\nthat effect. If an effect was present in an experiment, but not strongly enough to be tapped\nby all of the types of measurements I’d used, I would make it stronger by combining the measures where the effect seemed to be only partly working. ...\n\nPage 102:\n\nAfter years of balancing on the outer limits, the gray became darker and darker until\nit was black, and I fell off the edge into the abyss. I’d been having trouble with my\nexperiments for some time. Even with my various “gray” methods for “improving” the data,\nI wasn’t able to get the results the way I wanted them. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go wanted it so badly. I wanted to belong, to be part of the action, to score. I really, really wanted to be really, really good. I wanted to be published in the best journals\nand speak in the largest room at conferences. I wanted people to hang on my every word\nas I headed for coffee or lunch after delivering a lecture. I felt very alone.\n\np103\n\nI was alone in my tastefully furnished office at the University of Groningen. I’d taken\nextra care when closing the door, and made my desk extra tidy. Everything had to be neat\nand orderly. No mess. I opened the computer file with the data that I had entered and\nchanged an unexpected 2 into a 4; then, a little further along, I changed a 3 into a 5. It\ndidn’t feel right. I looked around me, nervously. The data danced in front of my eyes.\nWhen the results are just not quite what you’d so badly hoped for; when you know that that\nhope is based on a thorough analysis of the literature; when this is your third experiment\non this topic and the first two worked great; when you know that there are other people\ndoing similar research elsewhere who are getting good results; then, surely, you’re entitled\nto adjust the results just a little?",
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