The Problem with Science: The Reproducibility Crisis and What to do About It [Hardcover]

Recent events have vividly underscored the societal importance of science, yet the majority of the public are unaware that a large proportion of published scientific results are simply wrong.The Problem with Scienceexplains in nontechnical language how such fallacy occurs, how it gets published in respected scientific journals, and how it can largely be avoided.Recent events have vividly underscored the societal importance of science, yet the majority of the public are unaware that a large proportion of published scientific results are simply wrong.The Problem with Scienceis an exploration of the manifestations and causes of this scientific crisis, accompanied by a description of the very promising corrective initiatives largely developed over the past decade to stem the spate of irreproducible results that have come to characterize many of our sciences.More importantly, Dr. R. Barker Bausell has designed it to provide guidance to practicing and aspiring scientists regarding how (a) to change the way in which science has come to be both conducted and reported in order to avoid producing false positive, irreproducible results in their own work and (b) to change those institutional practices (primarily but not exclusively involving the traditional journal publishing process and the academic reward system) that have unwittingly contributed to the present crisis. There is a need for change in the scientific culture itself. A culture which prioritizes conducting research correctly in order to get things right rather than simply getting it published.IntroductionPart I. BACKGROUND AND FACILITATORS OF THE CRISISChapter 1: Publication BiasChapter 2: False Positive Results and a Nontechnical Overview of their ModelingChapter 3: Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) and their Devastating Scientific EffectsChapter 4: A Few Case Studies of QRP Driven Irreproducibility EffectsChapter 5: The Return of Pathological Science (actually it never went away)Part II. APle