Bad Data; an addendum

In my last post on Bad Data I mentioned that exactly one published paper by Hauser (the 2002 Cognition paper) was retracted and that this struck me as pretty slim pickings and not worth all the fuss generated. A kind correspondent pointed out to me that the results of this paper were recently replicated and is coming out. The paper - Chasing Sounds-  is by Julie Neiworth and using a slightly different methodology replicates the earlier findings.  By my count this means that for all of the sturm and drang the forward march of science was impeded not one whit. Indeed, given the last replication, one might conclude that withdrawing the paper has been a greater impediment than publishing it was.

Let me end with one personal remark. There are many scientific vices. Among these are virtuous self righteousness and envy.  Few things are as gratifying as bringing down a high flyer for malfeasance. See, s/he got there by fraud! We can ignore what s/he said (thank god as it gores my ox!).  Of the scientific vices these have often done more harm than deliberate fraud, let alone sloppiness. Moreover, they are much harder to police given how easy they are to dress up as virtue. At any rate, it seems that Hauser is three for three and that fuss in that teapot was more like a mild summer shower rather than a tempest.  Personally I hope that Hauser soon comes back from exile and starts psychologizing.