Stanford Won't Investigate Dr. Jo Boaler's Research Misconduct Allegations
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses Stanford's decision not to investigate anonymous research misconduct complaints against Dr. Jo Boaler.
Key Takeaways
- The complaint was dismissed - Stanford declined to investigate the allegations of research misconduct
- Anonymous complaints face barriers - Universities often require named complainants before launching formal investigations
- The research concerns remain - Regardless of Stanford's decision, questions about the quality of Boaler's research continue to circulate
Transcript
So Stanford University has announced that it has closed the anonymous complaint against Professor Jo Boaler, saying that no formal investigation is needed.
And if you didn't see this, she has been accused of misusing research and citing research and saying, here's what this research says.
and then that research doesn't actually say that and of course joe bowler's work has been very influential she's the author of many books and i was instrumental in putting together the california mathematics framework that resulted in algebra one no longer being offered in a lot of middle schools and i like i kind of get stanford siding with their faculty and having a very high bar for what they will open an investigation for like i think academic freedom is a really important thing But I also think there does need to be a line around academic honesty.
And we've seen this take down educators at other universities who were found to have engaged in various forms of academic dishonesty.
Like, here's the thing about all of Joe Bowler's claims about math.
Like, a lot of what she says, people want to be true.
People have opinions about math and math education.
And it's okay to have opinions.
It's totally valid to have opinions.
But what's not okay...
is to make empirical claims and say, here is research that proves my point, and then cite research that does not in fact prove your point.
That is academic dishonesty.
That is scholarly misconduct in my book.
So again, I don't like super blame Stanford for not responding to this anonymous complaint more seriously, but I do have to ask Stanford, like, what is the line for your institution?
Where do you draw the line at misconduct?
Because if scholarship is is going to be just a matter of stating one's opinion and then saying, research says, you know, trust me, this isn't scholarship anymore.
Like scholarship has to really mean something.
Saying there is research has to mean something.
If we're going to give it the weight that it has, if we're going to trust research, we have to be able to be confident that that research actually says and shows what it's being claimed to.
And I think Joe Buller has just not upheld that end of the bargain in her research.
And I think that's a big problem for Stanford.
I think it's a big problem for the education profession.
And it's something that we need to kind of self-police and correct on and say, you know what, we're not going to call this research.
It is completely valid for you to have your opinions.
I have lots of opinions.
But what I don't do about my opinions is say that there is research backing them when there is not.
Let me know what you think.