A social psychologist is in the news this month.  He admitted to fabricating and falsifying data: the data in dozens of published studies by this scientist are suddenly suspect.  

Here's a version of the story in the New York Times. 

a.) Data falsification and fabrication are two slightly different problems.  How are they different?  (see Chapter 4)  Which one is discussed in this story? 

b.) Reflect on why falsifying and fabricating data count as ethical violations.  Who is harmed by these actions?

c.)  The article discusses how the falsification case hurts psychology's public reputation as a science.  What do you think?  Do you think that stories like these will damage psychology's public reputation?

d.)  Data falsification also damages the process of science itself.  Reflect on how falsifying or fabricating data affects the theory-data cycle, the most important one in science. 

e.) After you read this article, think of changes that the field could make to the peer review or writing process that would make it less likely that psychologists would fabricate or falsify data.