“Adam ruins everything” is a podcast that aims to shed light on various issues that are in the public space ranging from misconceptions, trending topics, specific interest areas to government policies. Anything that is in the public domain is eligible for discussion so long as it has an element that is either not known by the public or has a misconception about it. A TV series with the same name and host has also been started. The concept is the same as the podcast with the show starting from the common misconception about the topic to the truth/ facts about the topic. The facts are usually sourced from peer reviewed articles and sometimes an expert in the field is invited to shed light on the topic (Morris 2017). In this episode, the program looks at the reproducibility crisis affecting the scientific world, the main issues causing it and the various opportunities that exist due to this issue.
Reproducibility is an element of results testing that compels the scientist to use and publish research methods that other researchers can use and come up with the same exact results. Reproducibility together with repeatability adds to the degree to which a study can be relied upon. Brian Nosek, a professor from the University of Virginia, is on a quest to sensitize the scientific world and the public on these challenges. According to Brian, this reproducibility issue is not a new occurrence but has been there for quite a while. With publication being a major influence on the progression of scientists’ career, scientists have been increasingly tailoring their research to fit narratives that can be easily published. This is referred to as publication bias and it has been encouraging studies with a positive and tidy story. Brian explained that more than 90% of studies carried out by scientists today show positive results which may mean two things; scientists are always right about what they think and hypothesize which cannot be the case or whatever is being published is a very small fraction of research work done with those showing negative results shunned from publication (Morris 2017).
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Methodologies used in research are many times boring, untidy and repeated so many times to get the right way and this is not interesting enough for publishers who want something that will interest the readers. This has seen many researchers not including the full methodology they used in their research and just giving a summary of the methods. Any researcher wanting to either replicate or test the validity of these studies therefore finds it hard to replicate since the methodology is not full. Nosek, in his work tried to replicate 100 studies and found only 36 of them exhibited significant results compared to 97 of the original studies. 61 out of 100 is quite a huge number to fail the replication test and is something that needs to be actively addressed to ensure the reliability of science is maintained (Morris 2017).
This issue of reproducibility is however one that can be turned into opportunity if addressed differently. The lack of proper methodologies is mostly a result of publication bias therefore this bias is what needs to be addressed. The publication of negative results should be encouraged since scientists do not know everything about our fields of study meaning our guesses cannot always be right otherwise there would be no reason for the research. Publishers could change the narrative and promote results showing a range of results.
Programmes such as “Adam ruins everything” play a major role in science and should be encouraged. The main reason for this being the increased publicity that they offer to science. Scientific studies are mainly accessed by fellow scholars or students but these programmes enable them to reach other people who would have otherwise not even come across the studies. Also, they serve to debunk some myths and misconceptions that people could be having about various scientific topics. Although some critics do exist about people who are not scientists discussing scientific topics, those are minor details that can be adjusted. These programmes are generally a positive contribution to the world of science and should be encouraged.
Reference
Morris, Shara (2017, Jan 11). Adam Ruins Everything Episode 38 : Professor Brian Nosek On Science's Reproducibility Crisis and Opportunity . Retrieved April 28 2018 from http://www.maximumfun.org/adam-ruins-everything/adam-ruins-everything-episode-38-professor-brian-nosek-sciences-reproducibilit
