Chapter 1136 - 842: Know Yourself (2)

Weng Pinting raised both her hands in front of her chest, making the shape of a square.

...

Although this situation could be addressed, it’s actually—not that big of a deal.

Many researchers set their experimental goals beforehand when conducting research, but as the experimental process progresses, various unexpected situations often arise. When this happens, trimming some of the data and settling for verifying a secondary objective often results in an acceptable outcome.

For instance, an experiment originally aimed to verify the impact of a variable on the "young", "middle-aged", and "elderly" groups separately, but during the experiment found that the elderly group’s efficiency as subjects was too low, and the middle-aged group’s cooperativeness was insufficient. Facing the remaining data obtained from the young group, one has no choice but to settle for exploring the impact of the variable on the young group alone; or temporarily divide the young group according to "gender", "region", "family income level", etc., introducing new variables for data analysis.

Actively trimming the project.

Of course, this could still form a complete experiment, and perhaps even lead to a publication. Such situations are not uncommon in academic research and can be accepted.

If Weng Pinting’s only starting point is this, then it’s completely lacking in impact.

...

Bi Yanling seemed to grasp at a last hope: "...Weng Pinting, you—"

Weng Pinting still ignored Bi Yanling: "To complete such a reconstruction, our Teacher Bi Yanling needs to achieve the following—"

"She needs to know what models correspond to three conditions and two conditions in statistical analysis;"

"She needs to know if deleting one set of data will still allow the remaining samples to meet the statistical testing requirements;"

"She needs to know how to describe the recruitment and screening process of subjects in the report, so that readers won’t notice the total sample size has changed."

Trimming a project isn’t that difficult; the requirement for such a move is only one—the person wielding the knife must understand the experiment thoroughly.

You chop off an arm, remove a leg, the remnants can still barely hobble on; but if you cut directly at the main artery, isn’t that just absurd?

"This is a modification requiring professional ability to accomplish. If a person doesn’t possess such professional ability, she wouldn’t even think about making such extensive modifications to the experimental framework."

"To achieve this level, theoretically, Teacher Bi Yanling’s professional ability should be very solid, but unfortunately—we found something quite interesting."

Clearly, Bi Yanling couldn’t manage even the most basic aspects.

Saying this, Weng Pinting turned to the next page.

Again, the articles were there, but this time the signature was notably Bi Yanling’s husband.

On the left side of the page was a list of the titles and publication years of the articles involving the emotion priming paradigms published by Mr. Chang over the past three years, and on the right were the experimental process descriptions from Bi Yanling’s paper.

Weng Pinting highlighted several experimental parameters in red at corresponding positions—stimulus presentation duration, interval time, subject task instructions—almost completely identical on both sides.

"Teacher Bi." This time, Weng Pinting finally turned to Bi Yanling.

"One of your husband Mr. Chang’s research directions is the emotion priming paradigm. Before you published this paper, he had already published at least three studies using the same paradigm." Weng Pinting’s voice was steady, "The similarity between the experimental process of this paper, from stimulus materials, presentation duration, subject task instructions to data analysis logic, and the previously published work from your husband’s research group—which you can see for yourself."

Bi Yanling did not yet know what would happen next, but felt that she finally had somewhere to begin her rebuttal, and she shouted, "What’s wrong with me collaborating with my husband?"

After finishing, she breathed heavily. It was the first complete sentence she managed since Weng Pinting took the stage.

"Alright, it seems you admit that this paper is the result of collaboration between you and your husband." Weng Pinting switched the PPT back to the previous page featuring Bi Yanling’s paper.

Bi Yanling’s whole body trembled, she shouldn’t have spoken just now.

"Collaboration isn’t a problem." Weng Pinting said, "This at most indicates you rely on your husband’s research ability to achieve your current academic position, and I can only criticize you on professional grounds."

Weng Pinting stated expressionlessly.

Without waiting for the audience to laugh out loud, Bi Yanling blushed again.

Weng Pinting had already offered the next knife: "The problem is—where does your husband’s name appear in this paper? In this paper about the emotion priming effect, Mr. Chang is neither a co-author nor a corresponding author—the correspondence is attributed to your supervisor, and your name is on the first author, yet your husband’s name doesn’t appear anywhere."

"If the experimental design and data analysis of this paper were mainly accomplished by your husband’s research group, then what does this paper mean to you?"

Bi Yanling opened her mouth.

"You are the first author." Yet the voice came from Weng Pinting.

"You are the first author." Weng Pinting repeated those four words, "Then what was your role in the experiment design stage? What was your role in the data collection stage? And what was your role in the data analysis stage?"

"This is an experimental paradigm created by Mr. Chang’s research group, data collected by Mr. Chang’s research group, and statistical analysis completed by Mr. Chang’s research group. You published this paper in the name of the first author, yet none of the three core stages—experiment design, data collection, and statistical analysis—were independently completed by you."

She let the page pause for a few seconds before turning to the next: "Teacher Bi, you used this paper as one of the core achievements in your application for associate senior titles. However, if you can’t even explain clearly how the framework of this paper’s experiment was structured, or how the data was analyzed—"

Bi Yanling’s hand was pressing against the edge of the table, seemingly looking for a point to stabilize her body: "You—you dare say I can’t explain clearly? I..."

Weng Pinting’s eyes lowered, looking down at Bi Yanling both physically and professionally: "Then feel free to explain clearly now."

"Three conditions and two conditions, why choose to delete the neutral condition?"

"After deletion, does your research question still hold?"

"What were your criteria for subject screening? Were those 24 excluded subjects excluded due to unqualified data, or was it because you and your data collection team simply didn’t measure them?"

Weng Pinting released one question after another, stacking them like stones on Bi Yanling’s shoulders.

Bi Yanling’s lips opened and closed several times but failed to form a complete response. Clearly, she was supposed to be sitting on the evaluation panel, yet at this moment, she felt like she was back in her master’s phase, being devalued by her supervisor at a group meeting.

Although back then her supervisor was even nastier than Weng Pinting now, the current environment felt even more cutting than that small office back then.

"This paper," Weng Pinting said, "when placed under a rigorous academic review framework, requires answering a fundamental question: what is the true contribution of the first author in this paper?"

The vice dean turned to look at Bi Yanling and sighed.

"When our school employed Teacher Bi Yanling, this paper was incorporated as one of her core academic achievements during the evaluation. But if in the process of producing this paper, its core design, data collection, and data analysis were not independently completed by the first author—then to what extent can this paper prove her qualification as an independent researcher?"

"In other words, Teacher Bi, you—" Weng Pinting turned to Bi Yanling, "You weren’t collaborating with your husband Mr. Chang, but simply being lifted to this position by him."

"Your ability isn’t sufficient to support you as a reviewer of opening project reports, nor is it enough to sustain your current title."

Weng Pinting made a small transitional summary: "No wonder the Ph.D. candidates under you can’t graduate successfully."

Her tone was plain and calm, as though she was truly detached in stating a fact, discussing merely a professional, academic issue.

Yet precisely, it was this calm, objective tone that made Bi Yanling feel as if she was being pressed against by a knife.