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SciPoll 682: Overhyped Scientific Findings
How big of a problem do you think overhyped scientific findings are?
Results
(118 Answers)
Answer Explanations
- Significantuser-327429With scientists frequently announcing the "new cure for cancer" while the disease continues to claim lives, it diminishes the perceived impact of scientific advancements for the general population.
- Significantuser-465255How can I do proper care if the recommandations that I follow are based on overhyped scientific findings ?
- Moderateuser-656690For example, "this findings are the first to show......."
- Significantuser-157759Research findings should Always be looked based on the public benefits.
- Slightuser-938667I don't really know
- Significantuser-346219They can lead to unethical behaviour
- Slightuser-489806The issue does not come from the articles or authors of the articles, but from journalists and pop-science writers who publicize and exaggerate the findings.
- Moderateuser-350867in toxicology there is a pretty consistent level of overhyping potential risks. i think these scientists see themselves as "saving the world" and seem to enjoy that role
- Significantuser-78454It is a major problem because overhyping gives a competitive edge to researchers who are the least honest, creating a never-ending vicious cycle of poor incentives.
- ModeratedingsliIt really depends on the researcher. Some are just doing it because everyone else is doing it and if they don't they get a handicap. They can still do good work after getting funded. But I think some other are delusional and bought into the exaggeration too much.
- Moderateuser-509063On a larger level it depends on the ramifications of the results.
- Significantuser-828815I think when something is very topical, there is a major impetus to publish in high-impact journals which often leads to the importance of results being inflated. Also researchers from well-respected labs appear to get preferential treatment when it comes to the peer review process so manuscripts from their labs are published more frequently than less know labs.
- Moderateuser-819800People always want to make things sound as good as they can, even if the data is iffy.
- Slightuser-381665Most people that read those documents know about the practice and are capable of filtering the overhype based on the true results.
- Slightuser-568782The peer-review should address this kind of concern.
- Significantuser-153764There are several examples how well-regarded popular press outlets [such as Time magazine] grab hyperbole to inflate attention. One example is bisphenol A (BPA) and still today at California's grocery check out there are Proposition 65 warnings on food packaged in BPA-containing materials.
- Moderateuser-910251I think about this when I see article titles that are seemingly exaggerated -- then when I read the article, I usually find that the findings are not that big a deal, but are being interpreted that way.
- Noneuser-515289Sometimes this can happen. And not only in science.
- Moderateuser-49529Editorial pressures affect, but in a country like Argentina, at those times what affects most are the costs of publication.
- Significantuser-99098Most papers introducing claim ground breaking results. But most research is incremental, and there is nothing wrong with that.
- Significantuser-628816Especially in the press.
- Significantuser-871917Because if all scientific discoveries are exaggeratedly important in the end, none is really important.
- Significantuser-354415Overhyped scientific findings is a huge and common problem. My review of several research writings indicate a common practice of researcher overhyping the significant of their findings. This is also evident in the pharmaceutical industry where medicines are project as silver bullet in the management of medical conditions. For example statins have been used for decades as mainstay drug for the management of high cholesterol(LDL) in patients of all age groups without clear information on the variations in its benefits in different age group.
- Moderateuser-655358exagerating the importance of scientific findings can induce poeple in error by giving them false hope.
- Moderateuser-834789Publishing negative findings is difficult. I have a current paper that has been rejected because they don't see the value in the contribution.
- Significantuser-461871Could exaggerate findings and provide false treatments
- Slightuser-540634Nornally careful reading of the paper gives the exact measure of the advance
- Moderateuser-266855All who use scientific findings professionally are trained to evaluate findings while considering limitations and biases. The general public does not have this training and may be affected by overhyped science. But there is a need for more communication of scientific findings with the general public.
- Moderateuser-987379Is the said results are slightly hyped by the researchers, the PR apparatus is then involved which overhypes everything. The funding bodies tend to like this, as it will generate more attention on them, and more money.
- Significantuser-858214Mostly in Climate change, Covid-19, and demography
- Significantuser-725521The current trend is to exacerbate the discoveries to gain citations and engage the readers, the worst of this practice is lowering the quality of the research work
- Significantuser-696023The lay media and search engines are triggered on positives and exaggerations - press in itself in the search for headlines, search engines secondary triggered by the lay media. Add to this sales.
- Significantuser-951296Most of the researchers find a lead for future studies on some issues. Overhyped scientific finding attracts such dependent researchers to explore that field, and in the end, they may be left with nothing significant. Ultimately, it leads to loss of time and valuable resources.
- Significantuser-359902If you need reliable scientific data and conduct an online search, very often the abstract is the most attractive part of a publication. The body of M&M, results and discussion sometimes add little new. Furthermore, academics very often consider their limited field of research as extremely important, loosing a feeling for the bigger concept.
- Significantuser-193879Overestimating scientific data is a big problem. I don't consider overestimating the importance of scientific findings to be such a big problem, but it can divert attention from what really matters in the topic presented if the reader of the article is inattentive.
- Noneuser-451259Not a problem.
- Moderateuser-347762I think there is somewhere between the massive overhyped issues and the massively under-estimated work. The biggest issues we need to address include increasing publication of negative or null findings of well designed studies--the willingness to provide adequate context for any hyped findings (if it is appropriate--which is rare--it may be more appropriate in discussion/next steps solely as hypotheses development)