Oct 7, 2024 09:57 PM
https://www.thetransmitter.org/science-a...-recovery/
EXCERPTS: In recent decades, scientific misconduct—formally defined as the falsification, fabrication or plagiarism of data—has lurched into the spotlight. [...] a romantic mythology often surrounds scientists. They are portrayed as “more than human, being like gods in their creativity, and also as less than human, being deprived in their work of the passions, attitudes and social ties given to ordinary men,” wrote Robert K. Merton, the founder of the sociology of science, in a 1970 essay. As a result, he wrote, the public idealizes and idolizes them.
Framed in this way, it can seem implausible for scientists to ever fake data. But the scientific world is not powered by curiosity alone: It also runs on a credit system, Merton argued. The scientists who create new knowledge are rewarded with recognition. Jobs, funding, and sometimes awards and fame, follow. Under the credit system, misconduct starts to make more sense.
And when misconduct does occur, it creates a fallout zone in the lab. Certainly it did for Bloodgood’s group. That’s because misconduct is not just a scientific betrayal; it’s a personal one as well, says C.K. Gunsalus, director of the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “It’s very hard for a lab to recover.”
This article is about that recovery, and what happens to the people left behind... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: In recent decades, scientific misconduct—formally defined as the falsification, fabrication or plagiarism of data—has lurched into the spotlight. [...] a romantic mythology often surrounds scientists. They are portrayed as “more than human, being like gods in their creativity, and also as less than human, being deprived in their work of the passions, attitudes and social ties given to ordinary men,” wrote Robert K. Merton, the founder of the sociology of science, in a 1970 essay. As a result, he wrote, the public idealizes and idolizes them.
Framed in this way, it can seem implausible for scientists to ever fake data. But the scientific world is not powered by curiosity alone: It also runs on a credit system, Merton argued. The scientists who create new knowledge are rewarded with recognition. Jobs, funding, and sometimes awards and fame, follow. Under the credit system, misconduct starts to make more sense.
And when misconduct does occur, it creates a fallout zone in the lab. Certainly it did for Bloodgood’s group. That’s because misconduct is not just a scientific betrayal; it’s a personal one as well, says C.K. Gunsalus, director of the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “It’s very hard for a lab to recover.”
This article is about that recovery, and what happens to the people left behind... (MORE - details)