Bad Science

One of my pet peeves is how bad much research, frequently touted in the MSM with great fanfare, but little knowledge of how research is exactly done and with little understanding of science or statistics, is issued. Grant money is given for research done and published, so incentives are all skewed.

From the Lancet comes this editorial. If medical research is 50% untrue, which I believe may be a conservative estimate, social science research is probably closer to 80% untrue.

http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf

The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. 

One of my favorite cartoons on this subject:

And this from Futurama