Irony at Harvard: Professor who studies honesty is accused of falsifying data

Recently, disturbing allegations surfaced against Francesca Gino, a renowned professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), involving falsification of results in several behavioral science studies.

On the 16th of June, the Chronicle of Higher Education disclosed revealing and compromising information about the case.

Max Bazerman, professor and co-author of an article published in 2012 in collaboration with Gino, revealed that the University of Harvard informed him of her suspicions that one of the studies supervised by her had falsified results.

These allegations raise serious questions about the expert's academic integrity and ethical conduct, as well as undermining confidence in behavioral science research.

Harvard research may have been faked

In relation to an article published and subsequently withdrawn by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concerns arose around the findings and the experiment conducted by the expert.

The study in question addressed honesty in filling out forms related to taxes and insurance. It explored the importance of honesty when dealing with written forms required by businesses and governments, where a signature is often used as proof of honest intent.

However, questions arose about the veracity of the results obtained and the ethical conduct involved. The research sought to understand why some people tend to cheat for their own benefit, even if this causes significant damage to society.

A study was conducted that proposed a simple strategy to discourage dishonesty in filling out forms: asking participants to sign at the beginning, reversing the order conventional.

According to the article's abstract, the research found that participants who signed veracity statements at the top of the page demonstrated a higher level of honesty compared to those who signed at the bottom of the page. page.

For Chronicle of Higher Education, Max Bazerman shared that Harvard University submitted an extensive 14-page document containing evidence that the research data was falsified.

Among these evidences, the discovery of unauthorized access to a database, in which the information was altered, stood out. Bazerman promptly claimed that he did not tamper with the data, stating that he had not participated in this process.

A blog titled Date Pasted, administered by three academics specializing in behavioral sciences, published a series of four posts that presented extensive evidence alleging fraud in academic articles co-written by Francesca Gino.

The authors of the blog, Uri Simonsohn from ESADE Business School, Leif Nelson of the University of California and Joseph Simmons of the University of Pennsylvania detailed the findings in their posts, revealing alleged evidence of fraud in articles published over more than a decade, including recent articles from 2020.

In 2021, that same team of experts expressed their concerns to the Harvard Business School. Through a detailed report, they presented their findings related to four specific studies in which they had accumulated substantial evidence of data fraud.

Furthermore, scholars believe that a significant number of other articles co-written by Gino may contain false data, possibly numbering in the dozens.

These additional revelations broaden the scale of the allegations against Gino and raise serious questions about the validity of her research in a broader context.

To date, no punishment or administrative action against Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman has been announced by the Dean of Harvard University.

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