When Studies Go Wrong, Do We Fail Science, or Vice Versa?

Science has taken a few pretty serious hits recently. Try as we might to control for our human biases, their influence can be overwhelming. Alas science does not operate outside the human realm, but as an extension of our natural capabilities — the good as well as the bad ones.

Take the case of Michael LaCour, currently a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA. In late 2014, the journal Science published a he co-authored as a grad student, quickly making headlines because it claimed to show that people’s views against gay marriage were easily reversible: a 20-minute personal conversation with a gay survey taker appeared to do the trick.

Now, LaCour’s co-author, Columbia University professor Donald P. Green, has asked Science to retract the study, citing statistical irregularities found by other academics as well as LaCour’s own admission that some methodologies were falsified (participants were not paid cash as he originally claimed, which explained, according to LaCour, why response rates to the survey were so high).

LaCour appears to be defending himself on a personal page as well as on Twitter, although the event has stirred a pot long simmering over a fire of professional pressures that sometimes get the better of scientists.

(1/2) I read “Irregularities in LaCour (2014),” posted at http://t.co/SJ3jE89XeD on May 19, 2015 by Broockman et al. I’m gathering evidence

— Michael J. LaCour (@UCLaCour) May 20, 2015