He faked data for over 30 research papers, blighted the academic prospects of PhD students in his care and made fools of his fellow researchers. For years, social psychologist Diederik Stapel was free to investigate whatever subject took his fancy and make up the results. How did he get away with it? What the media say.

Trouw describes the findings of the committee headed by scientist Pim Levelt which was set up to plough through each and every scientific paper Stapel was involved in, both at Tilburg University and the University of Amsterdam.
Intimidating
‘Levelt went from one surprise to another’, it writes. Stapel would talk to a student about an experiment they would conduct and would then take it upon himself to do the work of handing out questionnaires and talking to people. ‘He would come back with all the data a few weeks later for the student to work out. Needless to say, the data were faked from start to finish’.
The reason why Stapel could act with impunity was the intimidating way he treated people and his reoutation as the university’s star scientist. ‘Students who after a time asked to see the questionnaires again were fobbed off. Stapel said ‘these things aren’t kept for that long’.
Those who insisted or criticised the way Stapel handled things were told that trust was of the utmost importance. He also hinted that too much criticism might harm the PhD student’s chances of getting a title. He could be charming as well, getting around the students by treating them to meals and visits to the theatre.
Power
The popular professor’s own promotion to dean of the faculty gave him power over research money and the careers of his fellow scientists. He had excellent contacts with the board and the body which handles integrity questions at the university. ‘There weren’t many budding scientists who dared complain about his methods’, the paper writes.
Tainted
The independent website of Tilburg University focuses on the unfortunates who studied under Stapel. ‘They waited with bated breath to see if their work was tainted as well. Unfortunately, the results of the Levelt investigation show that there is only one PhD dissertation that is completely clean. To what extent the other dissertations are based on false data is yet to be ascertained’, the website writes.
The site quotes Levelt as saying that there is no reason why Stapel’s students should renounce their academic titles. ‘They have shown that they are capable of doing research independently and are able to write a paper. That is enough to justify their title.’
Pressure
Meanwhile, Stapel himself has written a mea culpa to the Volkskrant in which he denies having acted out of self interest.
‘I have made the mistake of making out that the world is a nicer place than it actually is. (..) In modern science the level of ambition is high and the competition for money fierce. The pressure became too much. I couldn’t cope with the pressure to score, to publish. I wanted too much too quickly. In an environment where people often work alone I took a wrong turning.’
Stapel, who will be taken to court for fraud, goes on to say that he will have to face many more questions but that ‘I cannot do so in my present state of mind.’
Success
The nrc is not impressed. It’s not the first time Stapel strayed, it writes in an editorial. As early as the nineties, during his spell at the University of Amsterdam Stapel reportedly worked ‘isolated, unmonitored and untested’, the paper writes. Nothing to do with pressure and everything to do with wanting to be a success, nrc opines. The university’s peer review system has not worked and it’s about time the university of Tilburg asked itself what can be done about it.