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Yes, I could ask to lose my job. But again, I prefer not to. Research in certain (most?) fields is a dictatorship and even suggesting something to be fishy puts
by rscho 6y ago
Yes, I could ask to lose my job. But again, I prefer not to. Research in certain (most?) fields is a dictatorship and even suggesting something to be fishy puts a target on your back.
In this particular case, there were multiple outcomes tested (read: tens of them) and alpha was .05
- SubiculumCode 6y agoMan, all I can say is you are working for a bad prof then. I can't imagine any of my former advisors/colleagues/etc punishing me for declining to be a co-author.
- rscho 6y agoI am guessing that you don't do clinical research, then ;-)
- SubiculumCode 6y agoIm on the edge of clinical work. I work with some clinical people, but am not clinical myself. I would say that they are a bit more willing to be instrumental and throw a bunch of comparisons out and see what sticks. Its largely because of a lack of awareness about statistical issues though, and they respond well to my objections.
- rscho 6y agoWell, most professors around here don't respond well at all to objections. All (MD) professors I've met are dangerous Excel spreadsheet warriors. Note that we have a statistician in our unit, that no one listens to because "we always did it that way, right?". However, in a wider view the issue is far bigger than that: for a clinician nowadays it's become basically impossible to both be a really honest researcher while acquiring sufficient publication velocity to rise above. In a word, our system selects for bad actors.
- frostburg 6y agoI occasionally help this sort of people process and visualize data (they ignore their own internal statisticians, of course), but they're friends, so I can shut them down when needed. I have heard the term "retrospective control group" being used.
- samatman 6y agoI'm reminded of a bit of dialogue from Fight Club: "Which car company do you work for?" "...a major one."
- oldgradstudent 6y agoDo they produce mere noise, or there's additional fraud involved?
- rscho 6y agoNoise. But don't judge too harshly, it's actually like that everywhere I got to work.
- oldgradstudent 6y agoThat's why I judge it so harshly.