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Many surveys, about one in five, may contain fraudulent data

 

survey

New study raises questions about survey fraud.

Many surveys, about one in five, may contain fraudulent data

By John BohannonFeb. 24, 2016 , 3:00 PM

How often do people conducting surveys simply fabricate some or all of the data? Several high-profile cases of fraud over the past few years have shone a spotlight on that question, but the full scope of the problem has remained unknown.  Yesterday, at a meeting in Washington, D.C., a pair of well-known researchers, Michael Robbins and Noble Kuriakose, presented a statistical test for detecting fabricated data in survey answers. When they applied it to more than 1000 public data sets from international surveys, a worrying picture emerged: About one in five of the surveys failed, indicating a high likelihood of fabricated data. Read more.