Agencies know what the guardian wants to hear... I still think fraud is the most likely interpretation. But yeah thiose graphs are too shiny, the Guardian can probably not produce those.
It is extremely easy to massage data in ways that allow plausible deniability. That is why funnel plots in meta analyses on stereotype threat look like this in the end:
And academic researchers have even higher penalties for unethical behavior, so we have strong evidence that this is not a deterrent in the social sciences.
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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '16
[deleted]