Also many a time we drop the clinical trial in between if the results are not as it was expected. But in all the circumstances the study was carried out!!
If not published then -how apt will the phrase "Work not documented -Is Work not done " be in such situations?
Are negative results accepted for publications? Do they have any significance??
There many ways to read the results of a study but count the same in the field of science even more if they are negative but true.
"How wise ..." is a wrong question. Scientific journals worldwide do not accept negative results because it's impossible to understand as to whether the idea of a study was incorrect, or the research methodology, measurements, or theoretical assumptions, or calculations were wrong. How wise can be something that nobody needs, understand, and accepts.
For negative results having any value it's necessary to have a very clear scientific alternative being challenged by the real life experiments. That is certain hypothesis can be checked by experimentation to prove or disprove them. However, to be publishable, such hypothesis ought to be at the science frontiers. Otherwise, the whole study doesn't have any value.
Dear Amina Sultan
I think that the results of scientific research have great benefits even if they are negative and differ with the researcher's expectations. Certainly, the positive results of scientific research provide a successful answer to study questions, but negative study results, which conflict with the researcher's expectations, also contribute to the researcher's reformulation of the approach seen in those phenomena.
For example, when selecting some factors in a particular research to study the relationship between them and a particular disease, upon completion of the analysis of the results, we will find that there are some factors that increase the risks, other factors are not linked, while other factors may reduce the risk of this disease. Finally, all results, negative or positive, were beneficial and gave great value to the research
Best regards
Reporting study findings is really important, no matter what. Negative results could be still useful and utilized to open doors for further future research studies.
Dear Amina, negative results should be published to avoid some wrong stratigies that may be done during the research work, beside that the some negative findings or results could be positive ones if certain modifications occurrd or when such results being deeply investigated ..
A negative result helps to better understand a positive one. Therefore, it must also be published. However, the publication of a negative result should be in the same article where the positive result is published.
When we propose a research we have to expect not only a positive but also a negative result and hence, we have to publish a negative result
Anastas Ivanov Ivanov Ekhlas A. Hussein Andrey Skorobogatov Hassan Izzeddin Sarsak Aparna Sathya Murthy Esraa Ghazy Thank you so much for the interactive and convincing responses ..much regards to all
Amina
Joshua O. Ighalo Yosef Tadesse Md. Shiblur Rahaman many many thanks for the support and contribution to this discussion.
regards.
Len Leonid Mizrah I appreciate your keen support for this discussion and for sharing your observations and recommendations.
my regards
Amina
In my opinion, negative or positive is mostly attitude of researcher, not a characteristic of the result. It's all about the wording. I do not believe that the author is obliged in the course of the study to adhere to the idea with which he began these studies, often many years ago. You can always make a correction in the research.
Nevertheless, if a hypothesis is analyzed and shown to have a right to exist, then why not show that other experimental data make it wrong? This is quite scientific. If incorrect hypotheses that are justified theoretically are analyzed, then this at least eliminates the need for others to test these.
It is another matter to invent stupidity, and then prove that it is real stupidity - a very unproductive action.
The purpose of any research is to explore and identify the results whether positive or negative ,it has to be shared so that other research can be based on that.
Negative results should be published as that would help in understanding the positive ones.
the researcher should be honest by publishing the negative results as far as his methodology is systematic and correct. For example in experimental research both the alternative and the null hypothesis are specified. Eventually, when the alternative hypothesis is rejected and the null hypothesis is confirmed, the credibility of research is not threatened.
I certainly think that, negative results are significant upon some preconditions. If an experiment or clinical study is not fruitful, but it conveys an important negative conclusion, it does worth being published and documented. But not any negative result or failed experiment is worthwhile. Consider you want to study cancer treatment. If there is a possibility that a certain type of medicine (A) could might have probably cured the disease after almost one year prescription, then if a researcher has carried out the clinical experiment and have found it futile, and concluded that the medicine is certainly not capable of treating the disease in such time-frame or probably more, then if this is documented and reported in a publication medium, another researcher would not undertake the experiment and will examine another medicine (B) prescription and this advances the research community by not wasting time on that experiment (an almost one year time save in this case). Therefore, the research society could economize the time of research and scientific research will proceed faster.
Negative results may give an opportunity to other researchers to improve study to produce positive results. I may not be able to perform the experiment due to lack of enough equipment. Others can utilise his available facility to make negative results meaningful.
dearVadim S. Gorshkov &Anita Singh .many thanks for the contributions. I appreciate your views. regards
The researcher must be neutral
Looks at his research from outside the box, not inside it
Bruce Robin Nyamweha Bruce Robin Nyamweha Taher Alkhalaf Saeb AmirAhmadi Chomachar Mounya Abdaoui Many thanks to you .. I appreciate your interest and contributions toward this discussion.
my regards
It will be good only. The next level researchers will find insights and can redefine their objectives towards a meaningful research.
Amit Baran Sharangi Thank you so much for your contribution. I appreciate your view and find it quite reasonable.
thanks again
Amina
A great deal of research that I need to read to conduct my own research seems fixed in particular paradigms with no attempt to evaluate those paradigms, or produce evidence for the methods employed. Are abstractions difficult for some researchers or are they considered unnecessary?
Dear Stanley Wilkin sir, many thanks for the response. I fully support your perception.
Regards
Kindly read the interesting link
Article Resultados negativos na pesquisa científica: aspectos éticos
Thanks a lot, dear Sadanand Pandey for your response and your kind sharing of a very helpful link , very much related to the discussion. Rather the conclusion of the study has cleared my doubts to a lot of extent..I hope many of us will go through the above link.
I appreciate your support and participation.
If the results would clarify ( support or disagree) with a scientific problem or questions , then why not!!
Amina Sultan
Actually a greater section of people are likely to be embarrassed that they were wrong & hesitates to publish negative findings....and actually it isn't the scientists not publishing negative findings...it's the journals....which won't publish a failed experiment these days...& it's simply a matter of competition where scientists try their utmost to convince with their reliable & positive data...
To
Solanki Bal,
You are absolutely correct dear. Rather 100% bang on stating the actual fact while depicting your assumption 🙏
Appreciate your participation and responding to the query.
Best wishes
Amina
To
Gamal Abdul Jamid
Many thanks for your support and contribution.
I appreciate your response.
Regards
Amina
To
Zainab Nizar Jawad
Thank you so much dear for the response.
Best wishes
Negative results are also representing an achieved results, so I recommend to publish such results.
Regards,
Emad
To
Balqees Al Musawi
Many thanks for your support and contribution .I too believe journals are prejudiced about studies with no or negative results.
Appreciate your sincere response
Amina
To
Emad Kamil Hussein
Sir, many thanks for the support to the discussion and sharing your opinion with us.
Regards
Are negative results accepted for publications? Do they have any significance??
They should be published also together with other positive results - as a form of knowledge contribution. However, if all your results are negative e.g. all the 10 alternative hypotheses tested yielded negative results or all were rejected then this may give impression to readers / reviewers that you might be far from discovering the truth / developing the solution or embarked your research on the wrong direction etc.
negative result also its result so we must try to published it.
To
Alaa Jabbar Al-Manhel Han Ping Fung
I appreciate your support and contributions. Many thanks to you both.
Amina.
We published both positive and negative results in biochemistry and phycology.and if positive results came from very law concentration it published in higher rank.
Mohammed I. Rushdi thanks for your kind response.Appreciate your participation
The study or clinical trial gets the ethical approval and also other necessary permissions and processes. Thus the study would be a well designed one when in initiation. Therefore, the negative results to the expected also need to be propagated.
K.E Karunakaran Thank you so much for your reasonable response. Your observation is quite correct. I appreciate your interest.
It is necessary to publish all the results of research. If they positive-to other they enjoyed. If they are negative - so that others do not repeat mistakes
Eugene Veniaminovich Lutsenko many thanks for your encouraging response.. regards..
Hi,
This is such a meaningful question. Negative or positive findings are weighed equally in research. Negative findings would elucidate the contemporary researchers working on similar lines. Objectives of a research are often expectations from a hypothesis statement. They necessarily don't mean that they would gives us positive results. A negative result would explain the reasons why they were in opposition to the proposed hypothesis built on the basis of well established facts.
Navnit Kumar Ramamoorthy Thank you so much, sir, for your contribution and support
a negative result is also considered a result. to achieve the desired result the first time is not a study. only a few negative results can achieve positive results
Not publishing negative results is like not being honest to your study
Yousuf Choudhury Nozim Muminov Thank you so much for your supportive contributions.I appreciate your comments.
Amina
Amina Sultan - This is a great question. Editors and reviewers usually in favour of publishing studies with positive results. However, the scientific community these days with the growing interest in systematic reviews and meta-analysis researchers are interested in including studies with "negative results" as well. Several calls are now demanding the need to publish these studies.
Amina Sultan - I want to add- I think the story outlined in Nature in the article titled "Highlight negative results to improve science" clearly show the point you're raising. Studies with negative results mean close doors to publishing or even to get a grant or a good research position. This is an important area that we should all work on particularly with the current needs for studies with negative results as we conduct systematic reviews and calculate meta-analysis.
Read the article published in Nature-
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02960-3
Samy Azer My utmost gratitude to you sir, for the interest and contribution to this discussion. I am really humbled by your support.
I am in sync with your observations. I appreciate your sharing of a useful link related to my personal query, hope many of us will find it beneficial.
Regards
Amina
Publishing negative findings is useful because (1) it warns other researchers not to take the same path, and (2) it provides new avenues for the researcher to explore - for example propose a new hypothesis or to include more variables not considered before or just to increase the sample size and achieve statistical significance
It is very important to record the negative findings in the study , Warning the researchers that this path is closed.
It's a great discussion and would be inspiring for those who were frustrated with their efforts that were culminated with a negative result. Whether it ends with a negative or positive outcome, the approach always leave something to retrieve by the followers choosing the similar path.
A negative result is also a result. Because it allows you to find solutions in different or different methods. In most cases, this leads to inventions or something new. The one who does nothing is not mistaken.
- Nozim Muminov Bogdan Kindzer Md. Abdul Hannan Nazar Alqahwachi Srini Vasan many thanks for your participation. I appreciate your wonderful support and motivation with your convincing responses.
- Much regards
- Amina
I think you should publish the findings of the study.
They are relevant as this is what your research study found.
The difficulty is if the research was funded, or supported by an institution who may have expected certain evidence to be found. How you manage that is tough, and you need to get advice from people in your university as these are the ones who can advise you. We cannot assume people on RG will know your university and your research culture.
Before xmas at Oxford and there is a lot of debate on algorithm's, which is beyond me. But generally clients are requesting algorithm's that prove a particular area. Its that saying, lies, dammed lies and statistics which reflect that statistical methods can be constructed to prove a particular point.
This discussion is lively. Thank you, Dr. Amina Sultan , to initiate this discussion.
My dear Beverly Dawn Metcalfe Thank you so much for your efforts and interest in this discussion. This is no way my personal concern and matter of contention. I have seen some of my colleagues dropping their research if the results have not been up to their expectations.
With so much positive feedback and support from wonderful RG friends and seniors, I am motivated enough to pursue and publish my findings without any afterthought, which may eventually prompt others too.( perhaps!!)
I sincerely agree with your observations and favor your response.
much regards
Amina
Md. Abdul Hannan Thank you so much, dear. this discussion has been engaging and lively by the active contributions, and continual support by my RG family. I appreciate you too for that matter.
Regards and best wishes
In a study outcome can be positive or negative. So, negative outcome should be reported as it will be further scope of research.
Dear Amina Sultan ,
I believe that as researchers, we should be transparent and report all of the results even if some or all were negative. However, negative results should receive a proper discussion or further empirical investigation to learn why we had such findings. Check out the following example where another study within the same paper was conducted to explain one of the quantitative results.
Article When empathy hurts: Modelling university students’ word of m...
Thanks,
Ali
Ali B. Mahmoud Thank you so much for your response and supportive contribution.
Sincere appreciation for your sharing a useful link related to the discussion. I will follow it for my better understanding.
regards and best wishes always
Amina
Amina Sultan As I mentioned earlier, we are now interested in studies with negative results, particularly for meta-analysis and systematic reviews. The journal "Negative Results Scientific Journal" represents early steps for this purpose. So any author with negative result studies that find it challenging to publish, I recommend this journal or it may be your first journal of choice.
Journal website: https://www.negative-results.org
Nice discussion; both negative findings and the journal that hosts those data should be appreciated.
Samy Azer Dear sir many thanks for your wonderful support and interest in the discussion. Your meaningful contribution and suggestion of a valuable journal are sincerely appreciated. I hope it proves to be helpful for many of us.
Regards
Amina
Md. Abdul Hannan Appreciate your contribution and agree with your response.
Thanks and regards
Negative results may appear as some effect any mitake of the researcher, low category chemicals, inefficient workers etc.
If these are ruled out and still the negative results re-appear, that should be published.
So far I recollect, fiest report of resistance of bacteria to antibiotic was a negative report. I forgot the details.
Regards,
This is representing a 50% of the findings, so, I recommend to present such negative obtained results, to be avoided in future.
Thanks for asking this important question.
Emad
Dear members Emad Kamil Hussein Shibabrata Pattanayak , I am thankful to you for supporting and sharing your opinions related to this query. I hope it is worthy to continue further with the discussion. Much regards to you.
Dunya Mohamed Hameed Thank you so much .. I agree and favour your remark.
For me negative result should also be published.
Positive-results bias, a type of publication bias, occurs when authors are more likely to submit, or editors are more likely to accept, positive results than negative or inconclusive results.
Publication bias:-
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias
Ahmad Alrawashdeh Zainab Nizar Jawad
-appreciate your response and participation.many thanksAhmad Alrawashdeh -Thankful for sharing a useful link..Regards
Dear Dr. Amina Sultan,
Great question. My visceral answer was of course, but Len Leonid Mizrah makes an excellent point. Why were there negative results? What if the study was poorly conceived? I watched a u-tube video by one of the leaders in Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) -Robert Bartlett who stated that an early study that he helped design did not show a benefit to adults because it was poorly framed. The H1N1 flu epidemic showed that it was beneficial.
Negative or unexpected results need to be investigated, first by the researchers and then by an outside party to help determine if there were flaws. Then, it should be repeated and if the same results are received, it should be published with the caveat that these are unexpected results.
brigid
Balqees Al-Musawi
Nirmala S.V.S.G Aparna Sathya Murthy many thanks dear members for your valuable support and inputs.Regards
Dear Brigid Conroy .Many thanks for your useful and elaborative response. I agree with your explanation and the opinion shared here.I appreciate your interest and supportive attitude always..
utmost gratitude to you
Amina
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