File-drawer effect

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See also

The file drawer problem

Science and logic

The File-drawer effect is what happens when researchers publish results that agree with their expectations but leave results unpublished that go against their expectations. Such a practice could give the impression that paranormal effects are real, when in fact if all the unpublished data were taken into account there would be no evidence for paranormal effects.^[1] ^[2] Thus, there is a rule within parapsychology (the only institutionalized field of fringe research) that all research is to be reported regardless of its results.

Improper reporting by non-experts

It may be unhelpful to apply the rule requiring all studies be published to research by those who have no expertise on the subject. For instance, in the case of ITC Articles by Imants Barušs, he was not qualified to conduct research in ITC. His work should have been seen as an amateur conducting exploratory experiments. Because he was an amateur, it was incorrect for him to claim that he was bound to publish so that there would be no file drawer effect on the subject. The file drawer rule should be seen as only applying to people who have training in the field, and the resulting reports should be vetted by people who have experience in the field, or they should be published only as articles of interest rather than research reports.