What a Harvard Probe Found This 'Honesty Researcher' Was Engaged in Is Beyond Parody

Doug P. | 3:19 PM on March 15, 2024

Remember when the Biden administration was spotted creating a DHS position for a "disinformation expert" who later was shown the door after peddling disinformation? She wasn't alone in setting the bar of irony quite high.

A Harvard probe found some interesting details about why an "honesty researcher" was placed on leave:

Can't make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/k4NOG4n9zz
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) March 15, 2024

Really? Yes, really:

A Harvard University probe into behavioral scientist Francesca Gino, known for her research into the reasons people lie and cheat, found that her work contained manipulated data https://t.co/u2irhUIl2P https://t.co/u2irhUIl2P
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 15, 2024

This sounds like another case of "the misinformation call is coming from inside the House -- or campus in this instance:

The investigative committee that produced the nearly 1,300-page document included three Harvard Business School professors tapped by HBS dean Srikant Datar to examine accusations about Gino’s work.
They concluded after a monthslong probe conducted in 2022 and 2023 that Gino “engaged in multiple instances of research misconduct” in the four papers they examined. They recommended that the university audit Gino’s other experimental work, request retractions of three of the papers (the fourth had already been retracted at the time they reviewed it), and place Gino on unpaid leave while taking steps to terminate her employment.
“The Investigation Committee believes that the severity of the research misconduct that Professor Gino has committed calls for appropriately severe institutional action,” the report states.