In a message dated 10/29/2005 7:06:28 PM Central Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Another thing that I want to point out is that some professors only want
to see good results and that makes students fabricate or falsify research
results only in order to get him/her pleased.
I won't comment on the motives of professors, but this issue of staying true
to the data and the scientific method is a challenge all students would be
well to learn. The issue is bound to come up in their professional life
whether through ignorant bosses, political agendas, or their own wishful
thinking.
I sometimes have pondered if it would be possible for a professor or teacher
to slam home the importance of this. Granted a given curriculum is already
crowded. But I have wondered if there would be value in the following
scenario:
1. Professor teaches a 'bogus' concept to the students, perhaps in a way
that they assume it is a lecture as usual.
2. Professor then has the students perform an experiment to "demonstrate"
the phenomenon. Prefessor expects a full report write up on intro, methods,
data results, discussion (of what went right or wrong, comments, etc).
3. Professor evaluates how many students:
A. Report that the data does not support the phenomenon and that
the phenomenon might be questionable.
B. Rationalize what went wrong with their experimenting such that
their particular experiment 'failed'.
C. Fudge the data.
4. Ask the class to do a peer review of each others reported research
findings.
Debbie Antlitz
