Cornell Addresses Criticisms of Food and Brand Lab Director Brian Wansink

Cornell University has issued a statement concluding that alleged statistical errors in studies authored by Brian Wansink, director of the university’s Food and Brand Lab, “did not constitute scientific misconduct.” Known for his work focused on how ads, packaging and other factors influence eating behavior, Wansink reportedly attracted criticism after he published a blog post about how his lab conducted statistical analysis in one study. A group of outside researchers then ran their own analysis on the data, purportedly documenting 150 errors in four papers published by Wansink’s group.

According to Cornell, the internal investigation has resulted in the implementation of new research procedures at the Food and Brand Lab. “These strict procedures are designed not only to prevent the type of oversights and errors noted here from occurring in the future, but also to create a convenient system for anonymizing and cataloguing data so that this background information can be easily and routinely shared with fellow researchers anywhere in the world,” said Wansink in response to the investigation. “I welcome careful review, and Ilook forward to continuing the conversation about food perception and eating habits through the great work of the Food and Brand Lab for many years to come.” See The Chronicle Review, March 17, 2017.

Issue 631