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Benford's "law" doesn't apply to everything, so it would depend a lot on the field and phenomenon being studied. And to be honest, once it was known to be used
by anonymous_sorry 4y ago
Benford's "law" doesn't apply to everything, so it would depend a lot on the field and phenomenon being studied.
And to be honest, once it was known to be used in this way, it would be simple to make fake data comply with the law.
- bell-cot 4y agoTrue. But the "once it was known...make fake data to comply" issue applies to ~every fake-detecting method which could be applied. Big picture, the goal is not to catch every fake. It's to (1) catch enough so that smarter fakers learn to submit their stuff elsewhere (vs. to the journal, conference, or institution in question, which really cares about fake detection). And (2) dimmer fakers are mostly caught ~promptly.