What is it about?
The title "Fixing statistics is more than a technical issue" means that the execution of statistical work requires a combination of statistical skills and of ethical virtue. Escaping the 'publish or perish' imperative requires a dose of abnegation in the execution of statistical work which runs counter the present system of incentives. There is a debate on whether better methods or better incentives are needed to fix the reproducibility crisis. In our opinion the existing methods are not the problem - though the way they are thought and applied is. Foremost we see a major difficulty to escape a culture which promotes publication at all cost. Being the coal face of science, statistics care can make the difference between publishing and not publishing, and this in turn can make a difference between having and not having a carrier.
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Why is it important?
The crisis of science calls in question Enlightenment ideals as well as huge amount of resources. This is perhaps the most important crisis of modernity and links dangerously to the post-truth debate.
Perspectives
The crisis is unfolding at such a speed that academic publishing on the subject can hardly keep pace. A debate on these issues is urgent but made difficult by a persistent scientism, meaning by this the conception of science as a something which needs to be defended from the obscure forces of superstition, ignorance and religion. This vision of science it itself a religion and is systematically mobilized to fight science's enemies, e.g. president Donald Trump and his policies. A science 'at war' does not tolerate doubt and delays a solution of the present crisis.
Professor Andrea Saltelli
University Pompeo Fabra, Barcelona School of Management
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Fixing statistics is more than a technical issue, Nature, January 2018, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/d41586-018-00647-9.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Saltelli, A., Science’s credibility crisis: why it will get worse before it can get better, The Conversation, November 9, 2017.
A recent discussion on The Conversation of why the crisis will not be solved quickly.
Saltelli, A., Statistiche al tempo della crisi, Epidemiologia e Prevenzione (in Italian): 2017; 41 (3-4): 165-169.
An extended discussion of the issue in Italian from the Journal Epidemiologia e Prevenzione. Open access.
Andrea Saltelli, Silvio Funtowicz, 2017, What is science’s crisis really about? FUTURES, Volume 91, Pages 5-11, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.05.010
What are the root causes of the crisis?
Andrea Saltelli, Ethics of quantification, PhD Course: Maintaining Scientific Integrity in Present Day Academic Reality, Utrecht, January 30, 2018.
A recent presentation on the nascent topic of ethics of quantification
Saltelli, A., Scientists’ march on Washington is a bad idea – here’s why, The Conversation, March 8, 2017 7.54am GMT
What is wrong in the ongoing 'science was'
A. Saltelli, Silvio Funtowicz, 2107, To tackle the post-truth world, science must reform itself, The Conversation, January 27
On post-truth.
Andrea Saltelli, 2016, "Young Statistician, You shall live adventurous times", SIGNIFICANCE (The Royal Statistical Society), December 2016, Volume 13, Issue 6, (pages 38–41)
A draft copy of a related article published on Significance.
Contributors
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