The establishment media loves the release of a new social science study. The story essentially writes itself. Just condense the findings, quote the researcher, run it through spell-check, and the news item is ready to go.
Most of the studies come from “social scientists” based in universities that have long been leftist strongholds. The topics chosen and the results obtained often, in the words of The Wall Street Journal, “[flatter] the ideological sensibilities of liberals” and that certainly includes our betters in the media.
When studies aren’t used to confirm the ideological bias of the researcher, they can be drafted to publicize the plight of some favored victim group that needs more tax dollar support. As the Journal aptly put it: “. . . bias contaminates inquiries across the social sciences, which often seem to exist so liberals can claim that “studies show” some political assertion to be empirical.”
Here is just a sample of leftist social science headlines:
- “Blind people can be racist, too, study says”
- “Dysfunctional Personality Traits Linked to Homophobia”
- “Study: Watching porn boosts support for same-sex marriage”
- “Moody neurotics are more likely to be creative geniuses, study says”
- “When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality”
When originally published the last paper contended people who opposed same-sex marriage became supporters after less than half an hour of discussion with a homosexual.
I was suspicious from the outset, because if the individual was that easily identified as a homosexual, how did he convince conservatives to open the door? And one considers that less than 3 percent of the U.S. population is homosexual it still looks like they have their work cut out for them.
Unfortunately for homosexuals busily polishing their elevator speeches and looking for a Baptist to corner, the professor just made up the results. It had no more relation to reality than a Hillary Clinton e-mail explanation.
The ugly fact is more than bias contaminates social “science” studies. Incompetence and deceit permeate the field.
Recently The Guardian published a report that debunked two-thirds of social psychology experiments. It’s a bedrock rule in science that results have to be reproducible. In other words, a scientist publishes his breakthrough and other scientists duplicate the experiment to get the same results.
The second set of tests is why the government isn’t pouring billions into a fake process for “cold fusion.” The Utah research claiming to create a self-sustaining fusion reaction in a jar of water only produced wet instruments. (The money didn’t go to waste, it’s now being spent on fake green energy projects that will leave you cold and fused to a heater that doesn’t work.)
According to The Guardian an international team of experts repeated 100 experiments that had been published in top peer-reviewed psychology journals and discovered an astonishing 75 percent of the social psychology research was false, “meaning that the originally reported findings vanished when other scientists repeated the experiments.”
Cognitive psychology experiments — those brain tests that look more scientific because the process involves electricity — did a little better. Only half of those papers were bogus.
Even when the international team hit the jackpot and an experiment came up with similar outcomes the results were only half as significant as originally claimed.
What does this mean for taxpayers who, thanks to Uncle Sam, fund many of these exercises in biased futility?
Scientists could get better information and improve their grooming by eavesdropping on conversations in a barbershop.
The worst part about the failure is it contaminates studies I thought were full of solid data and gave significant insight into the human condition.
For example:
- “Couples who share the housework are more likely to divorce, study finds”
- “Step away from your cameraphone: Constantly taking photographs Stops our brains remembering what happened”
Two studies that got me off the hook for vacuuming and promised God’s Judgment for annoying “selfie” takers were all rendered null and void in an instant.
Now I can’t rely on one of the rare Washington Post stories favorable to religion:
“Want ‘sustained happiness’? Get religion, study suggests.” The story went on to explain: “Researchers looked at four areas: 1) volunteering or working with a charity; 2) taking educational courses; 3) participating in religious organizations; 4) participating in a political or community organization. Of the four, participating in a religious organization was the only social activity associated with sustained happiness, researchers found.”
Finally an explanation for all those angry members of Occupy and Organizing for America and now I have to throw it away.
I wish I could say the same for the federal government. As the National Review found, the nanny establishment continues to waste millions on social science research: “Feds Spending Money to Study Why Obese Girls Get Fewer Dates.”
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher (for the League of American Voters), and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.