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News & Noteworthy © ---
Featured Issue 6-11-05
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Statistics could be wrong: The reason will amaze you, or not??
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6-11-2005 World:
Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct: Degrees of Deception Vary in Poll; Researchers Say Findings Could Hurt the Field |
.Few scientists fabricate results from scratch or flatly plagiarize the work of others, but a surprising number engage in troubling degrees of fact-bending or deceit, according to the first large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior. More than 5 percent of scientists answering a confidential questionnaire admitted to having tossed out data because the information contradicted their previous research or said they had circumvented some human research protections.
Ten percent admitted they had inappropriately included their names or those of others as authors on published research reports. And more than 15 percent admitted they had changed a study's design or results to satisfy a sponsor, or ignored observations because they had a "gut feeling" they were inaccurate.
None of those failings qualifies as outright scientific misconduct under the strict definition used by federal regulators. But they could take at least as large a toll on science as the rare, high-profile cases of clear-cut falsification, said Brian Martinson, an investigator with the HealthPartners Research Foundation in Minneapolis, who led the study appearing in today's issue of the journal Nature.
: by Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer
..more.. See also their chart: Ethical Lapses
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.In sidebar is the article "Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct," Washington Post, June 9, 2005 along with the chart they created.
Now the original article they are citing from is "Scientists Behaving Badly" in the Journal "Nature" 9 June 2005:
NATURE: Main Article (HTML):
Important in the HTML version and not found in the PDF version are, links to "References (when available)," the most important being "1.OSTP Federal Policy on Research Misconduct (2005)."
NATURE: Table 1: Percentages of scientists who say that they engaged in the behavior listed within the past three years (n=3,247):Full Chart (HTML):
NATURE: Link to PDF Ver. -pgs, Article, Chart: no links to references.
What this means is, you must read the research piece that generated the statistic, and first see if it appears credible and whether it may be contradicted by earlier research not mentioned. Then of course, you must decide whether it was oversight or intentional?
In the world of recidivism statistics this reveals how, what we have scratched our heads about saying "How could they come to that conclusion," was actually arrived at.
Obviously falsifying data is upsetting, but, the one that really frosts me is "Changing the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source," which is #2 at 15.5% of the times.
It is sad to say what that implies. The truth is second to money!
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
News & Noteworthy: Articles Concerning Sex Offender Issues © |
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News & Noteworthy © ---
Featured Issue 6-7-05
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Second and Third Party Flyers and Notifications of Registered Sex Offenders: Why permit any?
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6-7-05 Florida:
Address Wrongly Broadcast As Sex Offender's Home |
.PALM BAY, Fla. -- A Brevard County woman said she could be targeted because her home address appeared hundreds of times on a televised sex offender list. "You have somebody come up and really have it in for predators, and starts shooting out my window or something. People are crazy," Sandra Canard said. Despite many pleas, the Palm Bay television station at first refused to fix the mistake.
Canard and her husband have lived at The Bluffs for more than a year now, but recently found out that, all of that time, the government had a different idea of who was at their home and was incorrectly spreading the word that it was a sexual predator. While Canard is a big fan of seeing criminals and sexual predators plastered on TV to warn others, the last thing she expected was to see her home listed among them. "My husband saw the address. He had to get up, go outside and make sure this was the right address," Canard said.
In 2003, the Palm Bay Police Department sent a notice to the station that Jeffrey Lawrence Gilliland, a man convicted of sexual battery on a child under 12, was living at the home. At the time, he was. But nobody at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) told Palm Bay police that, just months later, Gilliland moved out or even that he's been in prison for an entire year now for violating his probation. So the warning, and Canard's address, kept running. "I wouldn't know that [someone had moved]. I wouldn't know that. They'd have to inform us," said John Bober, production manager at the TV station.
: by WFTV.com
..more..
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.This case raises a few issues, start with, local law enforcement apparently went over 1-year without verifying the addresses given to local TV studio. If they had, they would have known the TV listing was incorrect.
Now if we expand a little on this, who is it that notifies schools, day cares, etc that an offender has moved into their proximity? Of course, the local police. One legislator wants letters mailed.
Now in other news releases schools are claiming that it is their duty to notify parents when they have been notified by the police. Day cares and other places likewise.
In some cases local police even go door to door and pass out flyers alerting the community.
Although it is impossible to know today what form of notifications went out when Jeffrey Lawrence Gilliland first moved into that home, one thing is certain, nothing was done when he left the home and returned to prison.
Oh yes, the FDLE public registry was updated in June of 2004.
The obvious question is, the public registry is for who? OR, why are the police notifying anyone? Am I being too logical?
Interesting is, when a sex offender fails to update his/her address, they are considered missing, and when found must pay the price in the form of a criminal charge. What is the price when the state does not do what it should?
In Florida, in a recent case where a flyer was made by someone (Suicide of Sex Offender in Florida Raises Questions About Public Notification Laws) and passed around with incorrect information on it, that sex offender became so distraught that he committed suicide. So misinforming the public, or failure to notify the public, can lead to a death.
So I'll leave folks with this thought, when sex offenders move in, tell everyone generate tons of paper stir the community into an uproar, but when s/he moves out tell no one. Thats what the police do today. Offenders change their addresses every day somewhere.
The problem is, there is a paper trail of misinformation left behind. To those that think I am going overboard, consider this, when John Couey went missing, the police knew, but who was told, and what was the result?
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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