Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You write your report based on the correct data.
The research committee and the sponsors are surprised and somewhat disappointed.
However, before long, they begin to realize that your research is valuable,
no matter whether the hypothesis was true or false.
"Your research shows that no connection exists between two variables,"
says the head of the research committee. "That is valuable information. It
is important to know that we were looking at something the wrong way. Now
we are further ahead than we were before."
This is the real-life decision professor Doug Bamforth would make. He explains
that the consequences of dishonesty in the academic world are severe.
He says it's uncommon for researchers to make up data. But when they do,
everyone finds out and careers are ruined.
"What happens if you're accused of it and it's proven?" says Bamforth.
"It basically terminates your career. You can expect to never work again.
"Those kinds of cases get really widely publicized very, very
quickly, because it's so corrosive, it's so poisonous to what we do," Bamforth
adds.