Retraction Watch: How many scientists [psychologists] admit to questionable research practices

[AndyPR]

Sure, everyone knows it’s not a good idea to falsify data. But what about somewhat lesser offenses that also undermine the reproducibility of your findings, such as only publishing studies that “work,” and reporting an unexpected finding as something you had predicted from the beginning? In 2012, a survey of more than 2,000 psychologists based in the U.S. found that most admitted to adopting at least one “questionable research practice.” But would psychologists in other countries say the same? (Answer: Yes.) A group of researchers led by Franca Agnoli at the University of Padova posed this question to 277 Italian psychologists; their results appear in PLOS ONE.

Retraction Watch: Why is it important to compare how many researchers engage in questionable practices in different countries?


Franca Agnoli: In my view, the use of questionable research practices is a serious problem that undermines our science. We need to understand why it is happening and how to prevent it. If we had found substantial differences between countries in use of QRPs, then we would have wanted to explore why the practices are less frequent in some countries and use this knowledge to reduce its frequency throughout the world. Finding, instead, that the differences between countries is small, suggests that the reasons for these practices are found in systemic properties of the international research community.

http://retractionwatch.com/2017/03/31/many-researchers-admit-questionable-research-practices/

Perhaps in the UK the question should be "Have you engaged in reputable research practices"?