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If a university was actually in the business of seeking truth, there is much they could do to solve this. * working groups "red teams" whose whole job it is to

If a university was actually in the business of seeking truth, there is much they could do to solve this. * working groups "red teams" whose whole job it is to find weaknesses in papers published at the university * post mortems after finding papers with serious flaws exposing the problem and coming up with constructive corrective actions * funding / forcing researchers to devote a certain amount of time to replicating significant results * working groups of experts in statistics and study design available to consult * systems to register studies, methodologies, data sets, etc. with the aim of eliminating error and preventing post-hoc fishing expeditions for results The whole-ass purpose of a university is seeking knowledge. They are fully capable of doing a better job of it but they don't because what they actually focus on are things like fundraising, professional sports teams, constructing attractive buildings, and advancing ranking. Most universities would be better off just firing and not replacing 90% of their administration.

jltsiren 3y ago
Universities can't do that, because they lack the expertise. Most of the time, the only people in a university capable of judging a study are the people who did it. That's because universities are in the business of teaching. Apart from a few rare exceptions, universities don't have the money to hire redundant people. Instead of hiring many experts in the same topic, they prefer hiring a wider range of expertise, in order to provide better learning opportunities for the students.
- mkl 3y ago
  > Universities can't do that, because they lack the expertise. Most of the time, the only people in a university capable of judging a study are the people who did it. Statisticians can find faults in many studies. Universities even employ statisticians to act as consultants for research in other departments, as that raises the quality of the institution's publications.
  - jltsiren 3y ago
    Statisticians can find faults in many studies, but without a sufficient background in the topic, they can rarely tell if those faults actually matter. And the statisticians who have the background are usually already involved in the study anyway.

jltsiren 3y ago

Universities can't do that, because they lack the expertise. Most of the time, the only people in a university capable of judging a study are the people who did it. That's because universities are in the business of teaching. Apart from a few rare exceptions, universities don't have the money to hire redundant people. Instead of hiring many experts in the same topic, they prefer hiring a wider range of expertise, in order to provide better learning opportunities for the students.

mkl 3y ago
> Universities can't do that, because they lack the expertise. Most of the time, the only people in a university capable of judging a study are the people who did it. Statisticians can find faults in many studies. Universities even employ statisticians to act as consultants for research in other departments, as that raises the quality of the institution's publications.
- jltsiren 3y ago
  Statisticians can find faults in many studies, but without a sufficient background in the topic, they can rarely tell if those faults actually matter. And the statisticians who have the background are usually already involved in the study anyway.