Professional Standards & Ethics Flashcards

When should a scientific paper be retracted?

Answer: When its findings are shown to be unreliable due to error or misconduct

Retraction corrects the literature when serious errors, fabrication, or misconduct invalidate results.

Which practice most directly reduces p-hacking in memory research?

Answer: Pre-registering hypotheses and analysis plans

Pre-registration commits researchers to analyses in advance, limiting selective reporting.

Why does the replication crisis matter for how Mandela Effect studies are communicated?

Answer: Findings should be presented with appropriate caution until replicated

Responsible communicators note that unreplicated results are tentative.

A researcher is funded by a company selling 'memory-boosting' supplements. What is the ethical obligation?

Answer: Hide the funding to avoid bias claims

Disclosure lets readers judge potential bias in the research.

Source monitoring errors help explain Mandela Effect cases because people may do what?

Answer: Misattribute where a memory or belief originated

Confusing imagined, inferred, or secondhand information with direct experience is a source-monitoring error.

A science communicator says Mandela Effect proves we live in parallel universes. What standard of ethical communication does this violate?

Answer: Presenting speculation as established fact without evidence

Ethical communication distinguishes well-supported explanations (memory errors, schemas) from untested speculation.

Using another author's explanation of false memory research without credit is an example of what?

Answer: Plagiarism

Presenting others' ideas or wording as your own without attribution is plagiarism, a breach of professional standards.