4 ms·
It is an extremely big problem. In medicine all kinds of things were done to avoid publication bias (most notably trials registers). It still is a big problem,
by hannob 10y ago
It is an extremely big problem.
In medicine all kinds of things were done to avoid publication bias (most notably trials registers). It still is a big problem, because the countermeasures aren't enforced. In most other areas people don't even try to counter it, which means it's probably much worse and we don't know how bad it is. It's a major reason why so much of science is most likely false.
I suggest you have a look at the work of Ben Goldacre, he's been a major voice in highlighting this issue. He's done a ted talk introducing the problem and later has written a book (Bad Pharma). He's only focussing on medical trials, but you always have to think: "This is happening in all areas of science".
- Noseshine 10y agoInteresting what gets downvoted here (the parent comment looks very "light gray" at the time I'm writing this). So in support and just for reference, some articles: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jou... (Why Most Published Research Findings Are False) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-epidemic-of-false-claims/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-epidemic-of-fal... http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-t... http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588069-scientific-research-has-changed-world-now-it-needs-change-itself-how-science-goes-wrong http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588069-scientific-re... http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/10/science-wrong http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/10/science-wrong