I think one of the problems is that it often doesn't feel like cheating. You have a hypothesis, but you don't preregister it. It lives only in your head. You do an experiment, you look at the results. They fail to confirm the hypothesis. But if you tweak the hypothesis just a little, the data suddenly confirm it. So why not publish the tweaked version?
This is a malpractice that effectively invalidates the research. But it doesn't feel so. It feels more like a thought-crime.
This is a malpractice that effectively invalidates the research. But it doesn't feel so. It feels more like a thought-crime.