<p>I also posted this in the High School Life thread, but I wanted the opinion of some parents...</p>
<p>In my sophomore year, I did I research project in neuroscience for a local science fair and won first place, allowing me to go on to the Intel ISEF. But I have a confession to make, I lied on part of the project. One of my tests ended up giving me really strange results that weren't anything like expected. At the time, I couldn't really make sense of them, and I didn't want the judges to think I had screwed up really bad (I assumed something unknown to me went wrong in the experiment), so I just didn't include the results in the paper. However what I really regret now is that instead of just saying that I had poor or unreliable results that appeared to be flawed, or something like that, I lied and said I never even did those particular tests and made up an excuse as to why. From the perspective of more experience, I now realize that that was very bad because those results might not have been messed up, they might just have been indicative of a poor experimental method prone to error. I was already somewhat aware of the capacity for error, which I spoke of in my paper, but the tests I lied about and excluded could have been even more evidence that I wasn't doing very sound science and could have even partially invalidated my results. I feel terribly guilty for this now...Am I a horrible person? What should I do?</p>
<p>Interesting question. My inclination is to grant you a pass for something you did as a 10th grader and now realize was wrong. Plus it sounds more like an error of omission than of commision. The key for me would be if the results of the 10th grade project are the basis of any subsequent or current projects? If so, you will need to correct the mistake. If the 10th grade project is done, finished, and not cited in any subsequent work, I think you can just leave it alone as the work of an inexperienced immature scientist and learn from the experience in your future work. These are just my personal uninformed opinions. I have asked the opinion of a real scientist and will let you know what he says. He once told me he caught some obviously faked data while reviewing a scientist's research.</p>
<p>Yes this is past research, although now I really wish it was still in progress so I could have a chance to fix the mistake. What I am considering now is writing to ISEF and letting them know what happened, explaining it all, and giving them the opportunity to take away my award if they so choose. I also was considering writing to colleges I've applied to, telling them about this, and asking them to no longer consider the award as part of my application. While I don't want to do anything extreme that will destroy my chances of my dream colleges, etc., I am also a very moral centered person who does not want this hanging over my head all my life...</p>
<p>Since you did not fake any data, I think you can just let it go (and learn from the experience). If you start now writing to ISEF and the colleges, you will seriously jeopardize your chances for admission - they will not have time to look into it in depth, and may just discard your application as an unnecessary risk, which will probably be a much more severe punishment then you deserve...
You may want to go back to your research in the future, correct the mistakes, and publish the accurate results (if they turn out to be publishable), even if they discredit your previous findings...</p>
<p>I agree with nngmm, just let it go at this point; timing-wise, not a good idea to bring it up with colleges. Also, please think carefully before posting that much information that makes you identifiable.</p>
<p>It's not like you actually falsified data, you just omitted some. If someone spills a cup of coffee on some samples and has to redo them, but then decided "heck with it, I don't even really need to do that part anyway..." and abandoned it, I don't think they need to write up a report on that</p>
<p>Unless of course the omission made your report better or more competitive or something . . .</p>
<p>well, the problem is that the omitted parts may have served to partially invalidate the results. One of the reasons I omitted them at the time was because they didn't make sense to me and seemed erroneous. Now I realize they might just have been indicative of a large capacity for error in the overall experiment, which would have brought the rest of the results into question.</p>
<p>If you go back to that project, you'll have to redesign your experiments. (Your findings might still be correct...) In any case, there is no point withdrawing your project at this time, unless the results were falsified.</p>
<p>As a scientist ...a sin of omission is just as bad as a sin of commission: in either case you are misleading people. On the other hand, I tend to agree with NJres that, to the extent that no one is going to be using your research as a basis or inspiration for their own, there is no need to ask the Intel ISEF to rescind your award.<br>
As a parent...I think it is unnecessary to ask colleges to omit the award from consideration in your application; it seems to me like over-punishment for yourself. Do leave if off any future listings of your awards.
If you have learned from this about your capacity for self-deception, you are far along in the process of learning to be a real scientist.</p>
<p>yes you are very right- the one good thing I can see in this is I now know exactly what not to do and how to recognize these types of problems before they arise...</p>
<p>Speaking as professional scientist, I tend to agree with those willing to let it go at this point. You appear to have learned an important lesson. And there is another lesson here too: By failing to acknowledge and follow up on the data that didn't fit you may have missed the opportunity to make a much more significant discovery. In research, time after time it's the data that doesn't fit, that looks like error, that messes up your pet theory, that indicates that something important is not understood. And this data maybe trying to tell you that and lead you in the right direction.</p>
<p>Next time instead of ignoring the troubling data, follow-up on them. That's the way science is supposed to work</p>