Peer Review

Question 1

What is Peer Review?

Answer 1

The assessment of scientific work by experts in the same field

Question 2

What are the 3 main purposes of Peer Review?

Answer 2

See if research is worth funding
To validate the relevance and quality
To suggest improvements or amendments

Question 3

Why is anonymity a limitation of Peer Review?

Answer 3

Reviewers may be competing for funds and so are less objective

Question 3

Why is publication bias a limitation of Peer Review?

Answer 3

Editors tend to only publish positive or attention grabbing findings and so negative findings are intentionally not published causing misconceptions

Question 4

What does Smith (1999) argue is a limitation of Peer Review?

Answer 4

It can be difficult to find an expert so a lot of poor research is passed due to a lack of understanding by the reviewer

Question 5

How can Peer Review mean the rate of change in scientific field is slowed down?

Answer 5

Research that opposes mainstream theories is often suppressed so new and challenging ideas usually rejected with more established scientists’ work is more likely to be published

Question 6

What is an example of fraudulent research conducted by Andrew Wakefield?

Answer 6

Link between MMR vaccine and Autism

Question 7

What was a consequence of this fraudulent research?

Answer 7

Caused the number of measles cases to increase
Reluctance surrounding vaccine
Anti-vax