The Weak Spots in Contemporary Science (and How to Fix Them)

Several fraud cases, widespread failure to replicate or reproduce seminal findings, and pervasive error in the scientific literature have led to a crisis of confidence in the biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences. In this review, the author discusses some of the core findings that point at weak spots in contemporary science and considers the human factors that underlie them. He delves into the human tendencies that create errors and biases in data collection, analyses, and reporting of research results. He presents several solutions to deal with observer bias, publication bias, the researcher’s tendency to exploit degrees of freedom in their analysis of data, low statistical power, and errors in the reporting of results, with a focus on the specific challenges in animal welfare research