Science journal retracts gay-marriage
study after evidence of fraud
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[May 30, 2015]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amid evidence
of fraud in a high-profile study on how canvassers can convince people
to back same-sex marriage, the journal Science, which published the
study, retracted it on Thursday.
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The senior author agreed to the retraction, Science
editor-in-chief Marcia McNutt said in a statement on the journal's
website. The graduate student accused of making up data, lying about
funding and other violations has not.
The study, which received widespread coverage when it was published,
tested a longstanding theory in social science that contact with
targets of prejudice can reduce intolerance.
Specifically, the study examined whether door-to-door canvassers who
identify as gay can convince people to support same-sex marriage and
do so more effectively than heterosexual canvassers.
The authors, UCLA graduate student Michael LaCour and Columbia
University political scientist Donald Green, concluded that
canvassers who tell voters that they are gay can indeed change minds
on same-sex marriage. That result, the authors said, was based on a
survey of some 9,500 people in California.
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When other scientists were unable to replicate key aspects of the
study, they began digging into it, including contacting the polling
company that reportedly did the 9,500-person survey.
The firm, Qualtrics, claimed it "had no familiarity with the
project" and "denied having the capabilities to perform many
aspects" of the survey LaCour and Green described, graduate students
David Brockman and Joshua Kalla of the University of California,
Berkeley, wrote in a timeline they posted online.
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In her retraction notice, McNutt said that the Green and LaCour
paper had lied about paying people to participate in the supposed
survey, lied about being funded by prominent groups including the
Ford Foundation and failed to produce the original data it was based
on.
Last week Green asked that the paper be retracted, telling Science
in a letter that he was "deeply embarrassed by this turn of events
and apologize to the editors, reviewers, and readers" of the
journal.
LaCour has not agreed to have the paper retracted, McNutt said. He
has said he stands by the reported findings and told the Retraction
Watch blog last week that he "will supply a definitive response" to
the allegations and is "gather(ing) evidence and relevant
information."
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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