Research and Fradulent Data

We watched a video today in my research class that discussed the problem of fraudulent data in research and it was flooring. There was a huge flurry, what scientists argued only few, discoveries of data that had been "cooked" or "trimmed" or faked in a way that seriously harmed the medical and scientific research fields. I was really surprised to see how common an issue this was, especially when my teacher gave us updated facts. She told us that only a small percentage of people would admit to questionable researching but when those peoples coworkers were questioned a HUGE percent of people would say that the person's methods were questionable! It's easy for them to cover up their own mistakes but they sure as hell are at the jump to calling the kettle black.


The most surprising piece of evidence for this whole idea of research scamming was that all the research that was done on the autism being linked to vaccinations have ALL been PULLED! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAD MISTAKES AND ERRORS!!! Just to think how many people would say that they wouldn't get their child a vaccination because of the link to autism and now those links have been destroyed. . .can you even imagine how many children actually got sick because they did not receive the vaccination?!!


With the facts that my teacher gave us, falsifying data and having questionable research practices seems to be a common thing, even today. People are so fueled by their pressure to be successful, to see the results that they want to see, to find the results that the grant lenders want to see, to be productive enough so they can reach tenure at a school, to get grant money in the first place, ETC ETC ETC that they have to bring themselves to these desperate measures.

Moral of the story: BE AN INFORMED CONSUMER! If you want to try a new medicine or whatever then learn how to read the research that is provided on it and read the reviews and know that you could likely become a victim of research fraud!