Changes

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Gv1NQubrGNIC

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Gv1NQubrGNIC

}}</ref>

}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite journal |title=Data Torturing |author= James L. Mills |journal=N Engl J Med |year=1993

<ref>{{cite journal |title=Data Torturing |author= James L. Mills |journal=N Engl J Med |issue=329 |pages=1196–1199 |date=October 14, 1993|doi=10.1056/NEJM199310143291613  

|issue=329 |pages=1196-1199 |date=October 14, 1993|doi=10.1056/NEJM199310143291613  

|url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199310143291613 |accessdate= 5 July 2015 |quote= ''“If you torture your data long enough, they will tell you whatever you want to hear”'' has become a popular observation in our office. In plain English, this means that study data, if manipulated in enough different ways, can be made to prove whatever the investigator wants to prove. Unfortunately, this is generally true. Because every investigator wants to present results in the most exciting way, we all look for the most dramatic, positive findings in our data. When this process goes beyond reasonable interpretation of the facts, it becomes data torturing.

|url=http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199310143291613 |accessdate= 5 July 2015 |quote= ''“If you torture your data long enough, they will tell you whatever you want to hear”'' has become a popular observation in our office. In plain English, this means that study data, if manipulated in enough different ways, can be made to prove whatever the investigator wants to prove. Unfortunately, this is generally true. Because every investigator wants to present results in the most exciting way, we all look for the most dramatic, positive findings in our data. When this process goes beyond reasonable interpretation of the facts, it becomes data torturing.

}}</ref> Data torturing is often associated with computer simulations.  

}}</ref> Data torturing is often associated with computer simulations.  

==Examples==

==Examples==

===COBE project===

===COBE project===

It has been claimed by NASA contractor that in [[COBE]] (Cosmic Background Explorer satellite) project, the sensitivity limits of one part in about 30,000 were "increased" to one part in 100,000 by means of data torturing. The data had to be ‘massaged’ through computer enhancement. The work was done at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Los Angeles, Berkeley]], and Santa Barbara by researchers George Smoot, Charles Bennett, Edward Wright and Alan Kogut. With computer enhancement it is a prerequisite to know what is being searched for, which means that the data analyst brings a pronounced personal bias to the procedure. The discovery of anisotropy of one part in 100,000 is questionable to anyone who knows how the original data was processed and who is objective about cosmos origin theories.<ref>{{cite journal |

It has been claimed by NASA contractor that in [[COBE]] (Cosmic Background Explorer satellite) project, the sensitivity limits of one part in about 30,000 were "increased" to one part in 100,000 by means of data torturing. The data had to be ‘massaged’ through computer enhancement. The work was done at the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Los Angeles, Berkeley]], and Santa Barbara by researchers George Smoot, Charles Bennett, Edward Wright and Alan Kogut. With computer enhancement it is a prerequisite to know what is being searched for, which means that the data analyst brings a pronounced personal bias to the procedure. The discovery of anisotropy of one part in 100,000 is questionable to anyone who knows how the original data was processed and who is objective about cosmos origin theories.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cobe dating (Letters)

|title=Cobe dating (Letters)

|author=Robin Rushing

|author=Robin Rushing

|journal=CEN Tech. J.

|journal=CEN Tech. J.

}}</ref>

}}</ref>

==See Also==

==See also==

*[[Academician Burdenko syndrome]]

*[[Academician Burdenko syndrome]]

*[[Confirmation bias]]

*[[Confirmation bias]]