Data Colada

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Data Colada is a blog dedicated to investigative analysis and replication of academic research, focusing in particular on the validity of findings in the social sciences. [1]

Contents

It is known for its advocacy against problematic research practices such as p-hacking, and for publishing evidence of data manipulation and research misconduct in several prominent cases, including celebrity professors Dan Ariely and Francesca Gino. Data Colada was established in 2013 by three behavioral science researchers: Uri Simonsohn, a professor at ESADE Business School, Barcelona/Spain (as of 2023), Leif Nelson, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Simmons, a professor at University of Pennsylvania. [1]

History

Around 2011, Simmons, Nelson and Simonsohn "bonded over the false, ridiculous, and flashy findings that the field [of behavioral sciences] was capable of producing", such as a paper by Cornell psychologist Daryl Bem that had supposedly found evidence for clairvoyance. [2] They reacted by publishing an influential [1] 2011 paper about false positive results in psychology, illustrating the problem with a parody research finding that supposedly showed that listening to the Beatles song "When I’m Sixty-Four" made experimental subjects one and a half years younger. [2]

The "Data Colada" blog was launched two years later, in 2013, carrying the tagline "Thinking about evidence, and vice versa", becoming what the New York Times described as "a hub for nerdy discussions of statistical methods — and, before long, various research crimes and misdemeanors". [1]

In particular, the three researchers objected to the then widespread practice of cherry-picking data and attempts to make insignificant results appear statistically credible, especially an approach for which they coined the term p-hacking in a 2014 paper. [2] [3] [4]

Notable findings

Apart from calling out faulty, but presumably well-intended research practices, Data Colada also published evidence of data manipulations and research misconduct. These include studies about the concept of the moral high ground by psychologist Lawrence Sanna, and research by Flemish psychologist Dirk Smeesters. [2] According to The New Yorker, after Data Colada published their work, the careers of Sanna and Smeesters "came to an unceremonious end". [2]

In 2021, Data Colada discovered fabricated data in a 2012 field study published in PNAS [5] by Lisa L. Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, and Max H. Bazerman. [6] [7] All of the study's authors agreed with their assessment and the paper was retracted. [7] The authors also agreed that Ariely was the only author who had access to the data prior to transmitting it in its fraudulent form to Mazar, the analyst. [6] Ariely denied manipulating the data, [8] but Excel metadata showed that he created the spreadsheet and was the last to edit it. He also admitted to having mislabeled all of the values in an entire column of the data in an e-mail to Mazar shortly after he initially sent her the data. [6] [9] Ariely has stated that someone at the insurance agency that provided the data must have fabricated it. [10] [11] [2]

Reception

Data Colada's work is credited with contributing awareness to the replication crisis, the idea that many research results in the social sciences are difficult or impossible to reproduce. [2] Data Colada is also recognized for helping to establish better research practices, such as the sharing of replication data. [3]

The Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman described Data Colada in 2023 as "heroes of mine" and expressed his regret about previously endorsing research findings that the blog later showed were faulty. [2] Brian Nosek of the Center for Open Science applauded Data Colada for having "done an amazing job of developing new methodologies to interrogate the credibility of research." [3]

On the other hand, as summarized by The New Yorker, "Data Colada's harshest critics saw the young men as jealous upstarts who didn’t understand the soft artistry of the social sciences". [2] Psychologist Norbert Schwarz accused Data Colada and other reformers of engaging in a "witch hunt," while psychologist Daniel Gilbert denounced what he called the "replication police" as "shameless little bullies". [2]

Francesca Gino lawsuit

In 2021, researcher Zoé Ziani and another collaborator alerted Data Colada about problems replicating work by Harvard behavioral scientist Francesca Gino. Later that year, the Data Colada team contacted Harvard University about anomalies in four papers by Gino. [2] [12] Harvard subsequently conducted its own internal investigation with the help of an outside firm, which discovered additional data alterations besides the cases raised by Data Colada. [2] In June 2023, Harvard Business School placed Gino on unpaid administrative leave after the internal investigation determined she had falsified data in her research. [13] [14] [15] Around the same time, Data Colada published four blog posts detailing evidence that the four papers (all of which had been retracted or set to be retracted at that point), and possibly others by Gino, "contain fake data." [15] Gino subsequently filed a defamation suit against Harvard, Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar, and the three members of Data Colada for $25 million, alleging that they had conspired to damage her reputation with false accusations, and that the penalties against her amounted to gender-based discrimination under Title IX. [15] Gino accused Harvard and the Data Colada team of having "worked together to destroy my career and reputation despite admitting they have no evidence proving their allegations." [12] The lawsuit raised concerns about chilling effects. Open science proponent Simine Vazire raised over $370,000 to help cover the legal fees of Data Colada. [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tel Aviv University</span> Public university in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

Tel Aviv University is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and research of the city, comprising 9 faculties, 17 teaching hospitals, 18 performing arts centers, 27 schools, 106 departments, 340 research centers, and 400 laboratories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daryl Bem</span> American psychologist (born 1938)

Daryl J. Bem is a social psychologist and professor emeritus at Cornell University. He is the originator of the self-perception theory of attitude formation and change. He has also researched psi phenomena, group decision making, handwriting analysis, sexual orientation, and personality theory and assessment.

In academic publishing, a retraction is a mechanism by which a published paper in an academic journal is flagged for being seriously flawed to the extent that their results and conclusions can no longer be relied upon. Retracted articles are not removed from the published literature but marked as retracted. In some cases it may be necessary to remove an article from publication, such as when the article is clearly defamatory, violates personal privacy, is the subject of a court order, or might pose a serious health risk to the general public.

Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. Definitions of academic misconduct are usually outlined in institutional policies. Therefore, academic dishonesty consists of many different categories of behaviour, as opposed to being a singular concept.

The Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD–PhD) is a dual doctoral degree for physician–scientists, combining the professional training of the Doctor of Medicine degree with the research expertise of the Doctor of Philosophy degree; the Ph.D. is the most advanced credential in the United States. Other dual degree programs exist, such as the joint MD–JD degree; both the JD professional degree and the MD are not universally recognized internationally, however. The National Institutes of Health currently provides 50 medical schools with Medical Scientist Training Program grants that support the training of students in MD–PhD programs at these institutions through tuition and stipend allowances. These programs are often competitive, with some admitting as few as two students per academic year. The MCAT score and GPA of MD–PhD matriculants are often higher than MD only matriculants.

In scientific inquiry and academic research, data fabrication is the intentional misrepresentation of research results. As with other forms of scientific misconduct, it is the intent to deceive that marks fabrication as unethical, and thus different from scientists deceiving themselves. There are many ways data can be fabricated. Experimental data can be fabricated by reporting experiments that were never conducted, and accurate data can be manipulated or misrepresented to suit a desired outcome. One of the biggest problems with this form of scientific fraud is that "university investigations into research misconduct are often inadequate, opaque and poorly conducted. They challenge the idea that institutions can police themselves on research integrity."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Hauser</span> American biologist

Marc D. Hauser is an American evolutionary biologist and a researcher in primate behavior, animal cognition and human behavior and neuroscience. Hauser was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1998 to 2011. In 2010 Harvard found him guilty of research misconduct, specifically fabricating and falsifying data, after which he resigned. Because Hauser's research was financed by government grants, the Office of Research Integrity of the Health and Human Services Department also investigated, finding in 2012 that Hauser had fabricated data, manipulated experimental results, and published falsified findings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Ariely</span> Israeli-American professor of psychology and behavioral economics

Dan Ariely is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. Ariely is the co-founder of several companies implementing insights from behavioral science. Ariely wrote an advice column called Ask Ariely in the WSJ from June 2012 until September 2022. Ariely is the author of the three New York Times best selling books Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality and The Honest Truth about Dishonesty. He co-produced the 2015 documentary (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uri Gneezy</span>

Uri Hezkia Gneezy is an Israeli-American behavioral economist, known for his work on incentives. He currently holds the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics at the University of California, San Diego's Rady School of Management. He is also a visiting research professor at the University of Amsterdam and NHH in Bergen.

Moral blindness, also known as ethical blindness, is defined as a person's temporary inability to see the ethical aspect of a decision they are making. It is often caused by external factors due to which an individual is unable to see the immoral aspect of their behavior in that particular situation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ziv Carmon</span> Israeli-born business academic

Ziv Carmon is the Dean of Research, Professor of Business Administration, and holder of The Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professorship at INSEAD. An expert in human judgment and decision-making, he is best known for his research on placebo effects of commercial actions and on the endowment effect, and his presentations and teachings about Customer Insight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Replication crisis</span> Observed inability to reproduce scientific studies

The replication crisis is an ongoing methodological crisis in which the results of many scientific studies are difficult or impossible to reproduce. Because the reproducibility of empirical results is an essential part of the scientific method, such failures undermine the credibility of theories building on them and potentially call into question substantial parts of scientific knowledge.

Annarosa Leri is a medical doctor and former associate professor at Harvard University. Along with former professor Piero Anversa, Leri was engaged in biomedical research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Since at least 2003 Anversa and Leri had investigated the ability of the heart to regenerate damaged cells using cardiac stem cells.

"When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality" is a fraudulent article by then-UCLA political science graduate student Michael LaCour and Columbia University political science professor Donald Green. The article was published in the academic journal Science in December 2014, and retracted in May 2015 after it emerged that the data in the study had been forged by LaCour. The article purported to demonstrate that people's minds on the issue of gay marriage could be changed by conversations with gay canvassers, but not with straight canvassers.

Uri Simonsohn is a behavioral scientist at ESADE business school in Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, Spain, and a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His substantive interest is in Judgment and Decision Making, and he is also a methodologist.

Francesca Gino is an Italian-American behavioral scientist.

Francesca Refsum Jensenius is a Norwegian political scientist, currently teaching at the University of Oslo and working at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Her work relates to comparative politics, and has specifically focused on the Indian political economy. She is a recipient of the Nils Klim Prize in 2018 for her contributions to scholarship.

Ranga P. Dias is a researcher and academic who specializes in condensed matter physics. He is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering and Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester and a scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Scheiber, Noam (2023-09-30). "The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2023-09-30. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (2023-09-30). "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X. Archived from the original on 2023-10-01. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  3. 1 2 3 Subbaraman, Nidhi (2023-09-24). "The Band of Debunkers Busting Bad Scientists". Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  4. ↑ "APA PsycNet". psycnet.apa.org. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  5. ↑ "A study on dishonesty was based on fraudulent data". The Economist . August 20, 2021. ISSN   0013-0613. Archived from the original on August 22, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "[98] Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty". Data Colada. August 17, 2021. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Lee, Stephanie M. (August 20, 2021). "A Famous Honesty Researcher Is Retracting A Study Over Fake Data". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  8. ↑ Ariely, Dan (August 16, 2021). "Dan Blog Comment" (PDF). datacolada.org. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  9. ↑ Charlton, Aaron (2021-08-17). "Conflicts between Dan Ariely's statement and Footnote #14 (DataColada #98)". OpenMKT.org. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  10. ↑ Charlton, Aaron (2022-08-21). "Dan Ariely claims authorship order shields him from blame; speculates that a low-level envelope stuffer committed the fraud". OpenMKT.org. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  11. ↑ "דן אריאלי: "אנשים צועקים עליי ברחוב, קוראים לי רוצח ופסיכופת"". הארץ (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  12. 1 2 Svrluga, Susan (2023-08-03). "Professor accused of faking data in studies on dishonesty sues Harvard". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2023-09-30. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  13. ↑ "Francesca Gino - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  14. ↑ Quinn, Ryan. "Harvard Dishonesty Researcher Now on Administrative Leave". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 2023-07-24. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  15. 1 2 3 Hamid, Rahem D.; Yuan, Claire (2023-08-03). "Embattled by Data Fraud Allegations, Business School Professor Francesca Gino Files Defamation Suit Against Harvard". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2023-09-25. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  16. ↑ Piper, Kelsey (2023-08-23). "A disgraced Harvard professor sued them for millions. Their recourse: GoFundMe". Vox. Archived from the original on 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  17. ↑ O'Grady, Cathleen (2023-10-13). "How the reform-minded new editor of psychology's flagship journal will shake things up". science.org . Archived from the original on 2023-10-29. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
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