I found the assigned articles to be particularly interesting and eye-opening. I was surprised to learn that there exists a tendency among some scientists to alter, fabricate, or even falsify data or results, as many of them have admitted at least once (Jha, 2012, para. 16-17). As for John et al.’s (2012) study, I was startled that a considerable percentage of respondents declared that they had doubted the integrity of research, especially research done by themselves or their co-authors. Taken together, these results paint a concerning picture of the current state of research integrity among psychologists, whose practices might include fraud.
As a result, I believe that the biggest threat to scientific integrity in psychology appears to be the prevalence of questionable research practices (QRPs). This phenomenon is evidenced by Jha’s (2012) finding that around 2% of researchers and science article writers conceded the occurrence of fabrication, alteration or falsification done to their study’s results or data at least once in their career (para. 16-17).
Moreover, up to 34% of scientists were admitted to other QRPs (Jha, 2012, para. 16-17). Such practices have profound implications, as they can lead to other researchers using inaccurate data to draw their conclusions. In addition, such fraud may mislead other researchers and make them squander money and time trying to follow or analyze the wrong data. Moreover, these occurrences can prolong the use of dangerous and ineffective medicines or hinder the development of life-saving remedies. To help fix this issue, I believe it is essential to raise awareness about the prevalence of QRPs and the harm they can cause. Moreover, it might be necessary to encourage more transparency in research practices by stimulating experimenters to intercommunicate and make their data or results more open and accessible while providing incentives for doing so.
References
Jha, A. (2012). False positives: fraud and misconduct are threatening scientific research. The Guardian. Web.
John, L. K., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012). Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling. Psychological Science, 23(5), 524–532. Web.