Data Colada

Data Colada (http://datacolada.org/) is a blog dedicated to investigative analysis and replication of academic research. It is known for publishing evidence revealing multiple high-profile academic frauds involving celebrity professors such as Dan Ariely and Francesca Gino. Data Colada was established in 2013 by three academia: Uri Simonsohn, a professor at ESADE Business School, Barcelona-Spain, Leif Nelson, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Simmons, a professor at University of Pennsylvania.

Academic Frauds Discovered

In August 2021, data from a field study in a 2012 PNAS paper by Lisa L. Shu, Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, and Max H. Bazerman was reanalyzed on the blog Data Colada. The blog post claimed that the study data was fabricated. All of the 2012 study's authors agreed with this assessment and the paper was retracted. The study's authors also agreed that Dan Ariely was the only author to have had access to the data prior to transmitting it in its fraudulent form to Nina Mazar, the analyst. Dan Ariely denied manipulating the data prior to forwarding it on to Mazar but Excel metadata showed that he created the spreadsheet and was the last to edit it. He also admitted to having mislabeled all of the values in an entire column of the data in e-mail communication with Mazar that took place shortly after he initially sent her the data. Dan Ariely has claimed that someone at the insurance agency that provided the data must have fabricated it.