Approximately ten percent of psychologists falsified data

About ten percent of the psychologists mess with research data. The reason for the fraud is often the urge to make research data better than they actually are.

The Volkskrant reports today about the surprising results of a study done by Leslie John. It is to be published in Psychological Science. In total, 2.155 scholars participated in the study.

The carelessness with data takes many forms. The complete fabrication of data is rare, but other forms of manipulation, such as ignoring undesired results, are much more common.

The percentage shown by John is higher than in previous studies. This probably has to do with the interview technique. The researchers promised the interviewed to donate more money to the charity if they receive honest answers. Apparently this convinced the academics to be more open about the abuses in their practice.