A famous Harvard researcher. A blockbuster finding about honesty. Suspicious data, failed replications, and a $25 million lawsuit. Welcome to one of the strangest research misconduct scandals in recent memory. In the first of two episodes about the Francesca Gino case, we investigate a famous experiment claiming that signing an honesty pledge at the top of a form makes people less likely to cheat. We follow the trail from a failed replication to some extraordinary detective work involving an Excel spreadsheet—and conduct a little statistical sleuthing of our own. Along the way, we discover how suspicious changes to a handful of observations can alter the story a scientific study tells.

Statistical topics

• Statistical sleuthing
• Data integrity
• Data management
• Replication
• Sensitivity analysis
• Effect sizes
• Statistical significance
• Reproducibility
• Spreadsheets
• Conceptual replication
• Direct replication
• CalcChain

Methodologic Morals

• “There’s cleaning your data, and then there’s laundering your data.” 
• “Good data record keeping is still sexy. Version control, baby.”

References

• Shu LL, Mazar N, Gino F, Ariely D, Bazerman MH. Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012;109(38):15197-15200. Retracted. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1209746109
• Kristal AS, Whillans AV, Bazerman MH, Gino F, Shu LL, Mazar N, Ariely D. Signing at the beginning versus at the end does not decrease dishonesty. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020;117(13):7103-7107. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911695117
• Retraction for Shu et al., Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118(38):e2115397118. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115397118
  

Data Colada investigations

• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Evidence of fraud in an influential field experiment about dishonesty. Data Colada. August 17, 2021. https://datacolada.org/98
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Data falsificada (part 1): “Clusterfake.” Data Colada. June 17, 2023. https://datacolada.org/109
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Data falsificada (part 2): “My class year is Harvard.” Data Colada. June 20, 2023. https://datacolada.org/110
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Data falsificada (part 3): “The cheaters are out of order.” Data Colada. June 23, 2023. https://datacolada.org/111
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Data falsificada (part 4): “Forgetting the words.” Data Colada. June 30, 2023. https://datacolada.org/112
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Exhibits 3, 4, and 5. Data Colada. September 16, 2023.https://datacolada.org/114
• Simmons JP. Harvard’s Gino report reveals how a dataset was altered. Data Colada. July 9, 2024. https://datacolada.org/118
  

Additional resources

• Lessig L. The Gino Case. Website and podcast series presenting arguments challenging Harvard’s research misconduct findings. https://theginocase.info/
• Gino v Harvard University. CourtListener. Federal court docket and publicly available filings. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67659904/gino-v-harvard-university/
• Simonsohn U, Simmons JP, Nelson LD. Data Falsificada. ResearchBox. Research data, analysis code, and supporting materials accompanying the Data Colada investigations. https://researchbox.org/1630.34
• Kristal AS, et al. Research materials and data accompanying Signing at the beginning versus at the end does not decrease dishonesty. Open Science Framework. https://osf.io/4b7mu/overview
• Correction for Kristal et al., Signing at the beginning versus at the end does not decrease dishonesty. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123(27):e2610441123. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2610441123
• Harvard Business School. Investigative report concerning allegations of research misconduct involving Francesca Gino. Harvard Business School Research Integrity Investigation Report. 2023. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://datacolada.org/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-Report-on-Gino.pdf
  

Kristin and Regina’s online courses: 

Demystifying Data: A Modern Approach to Statistical Understanding  

Clinical Trials: Design, Strategy, and Analysis 

Medical Statistics Certificate Program  

Writing in the Sciences 

Epidemiology and Clinical Research Graduate Certificate Program 

Program that Kristin teaches in::

Epidemiology and Clinical Research Graduate Certificate Program 

Kristin’s manuscript writing course:

https://instats.org/seminar/from-data-to-discussion-writing-a-scient

Find us on:

Kristin –  LinkedIn & Twitter/X

Regina – LinkedIn &ReginaNuzzo.com

• (00:00) – Cold Open: Two Frauds in a Paper About Honesty
• (02:41) – The Claim: Spreadsheets Are the Villain
• (05:43) – The 2012 Honesty Pledge Study
• (09:17) – Signing at the Top Wins
• (13:31) – Failed Replications: Five Conceptual Tries, Then a Direct One
• (17:39) – How Data Colada Got the Data and Found Car Insurance Fraud
• (24:52) – Out-of-Order…