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Yes. My comment implies that you can get invalid research published. At least it was intended to. The problem lies in areas where replication and formalization

by davemp 8y ago

Yes. My comment implies that you can get invalid research published. At least it was intended to. The problem lies in areas where replication and formalization is difficult. There is certainly knowledge to be gained in these areas. Though calling the fields sciences, when the scientific method cannot be effectively applied, seems dubious. The solution is not obvious, but it is clear that steps should be taken to improve rigor in the less formal (straight forward) bodies of scholarship.

foldr 8y ago
It isn't possible to attempt replication of every scientific paper that's published. A lot of people on this thread seem to have difficulty accepting this fact, but the time and money to do that simply isn't available. If a large percentage of scientists were to engage in deliberate fraud, there wouldn't be any feasible way to regulate that problem away. All available resources would end up being spent on scientists investigating each other for fraud, and no actual science would get done. Bear in mind that in many cases, establishing that an experiment is not fraudulent could require more time and effort than the original experiment! As with many other human institutions, we have no choice but to rely on most people being honest most of the time.