WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
Scientists are not robots recording events using mechanically objective methods. Like all human beings, scientists have biases. Indeed, the inherent bias in science has spurred debates over climate change, evolution, and other topics. Nonetheless, the reliability and validity of data used to draw conclusions are the linchpin for scientific progress.
Too often arguments rage after the analyses are run and conclusions drawn, rather than being addressed more thoroughly upfront. We contend that many of the problems science and society face are traceable to a lack of rigor in both teaching and implementing widely recognized “best practices” methods in science. One field that has a history of this is animal behavior. A century ago, the scientific and public worlds were transfixed, and many leading physical and ...
