Originally Published 5 months ago — by Hacker News
Scientific fraud has become a significant issue, with problems ranging from fabricated data in prestigious journals to fake papers from paper mills. The main causes include perverse incentives, power imbalances, and lack of oversight, leading to a culture where misconduct is common and often overlooked. This crisis undermines trust in scientific research, necessitating reforms such as stricter peer review, better oversight, and a cultural shift towards transparency and accountability.
Four research groups in the field of experimental psychology successfully replicated each other's work by following best practices, achieving an 86% success rate. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, demonstrates that research in the field can be of top quality if rigorous steps, such as preregistration of study protocols, are taken. The projects addressed serious research questions in various fields of social science, and the results suggest that these findings could apply to psychology more broadly. This effort aims to restore the reputation of experimental psychology and demonstrate that not all social sciences are inherently flawed.
