“Yes! we found an example of fraud”
“OMG, the culture in his laboratory was so horrible.”
“Yay, science is self-correcting!”
Some of these things were said recently, when the Stanford University president resigned to spend more time doing research (which, ironically, was the problem).
Yet, these same people routinely use false studies to push for conclusions they like. In fact, the majority of scientists conduct research that is false, not useful or not helpful. Only a tiny fraction of scientists stick to true and useful.
While fraud is the worst conduct— using false studies to support your views is hardly better. The Figure illustrates the spectrum of bad science from Fraud to Truth. Let me give some examples of people using bad science to further their agenda, and argue for strategies to solve the problem.