Scientific Research and Modern Day Fables Part 1

"There is increasing concern that in modern research, false findings may be the majority or even the vast majority of published research claims," says researcher John Ioannidis in an analysis in the open access international medical journal PLoS Medicine.

As reported in the Corner, "This work follows on from a recent publication of his that found that a third of medical research articles published in major scientific journals and then cited over a thousand times in the literature are later contradicted or have major questions raised over them."

In his analysis, Ioannidis, of the University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Greece, and Tufts University School of Medicine, United States, identifies the factors that he believes lead to research findings often being false. One of the factors is that most research studies are small.

"The smaller the studies conducted in a scientific field, the less likely the research findings are to be true," says Ioannidis.

However, a second reason is that "financial and other interests and prejudices can also lead to untrue results." And "the hotter a scientific field (with more scientific teams involved), the less likely the research findings are to be true," which may explain why we sometimes see "major excitement followed rapidly by severe disappointments in fields that draw wide attention."

The implications of the report (if correct) are somewhat sobering, considering the legislation related to the environment and social concerns that has been motivated on the basis of “scientific evidence”.

I’ve often noted the amazing faith that some have in the promise of embryonic stem cell research on the basis of mere conjecture following the publication of limited research investigations. Yet billions of taxpayers’ dollars will be spent on research that involves the destruction of human life.

Also consider the indignation that followed the revelation that a recent JAMA article on fetal pain was authored by abortion providers. While prejudice and financial interest do not invalidate the results, the two are certainly considerations when reviewing the assumptions and methods.

Now, back to my second question. Should published research in scientific journals be used to change public policy and impact our society in the profound manner that has become commonplace?

Part 2 will be titled- "Scientific Research vs a more authorative standard"

Rabbi Philosopher has more.

HT: The Corner