A recent graduate posted on TikTok what was supposedly a helpful tip but turned out to be disruptive and damaging video. The fallout? Thousands of scientific studies with their data integrity were ruined.
In her 56-second video posted on July 23, Sarah Frank from Florida, US suggested to her viewers to check out Prolific and take some surveys to make some extra money. It’s a legitimate website that helps the academe find participants to take part in the research.

It didn’t take long for the video to become viral. It reached 4.1 million views within a month, a feat most TikTokers can only hope to achieve for the dopamine hit they always crave.
Unfortunately, most of these views came from women, who then signed up for Prolific and answered surveys. Thousands of affected scientific studies, as many as 4,600, received gendered-skewed data that could no longer be considered a good sample to represent the subject population.
Via: The Verge