I had written to Prof Maybery (Head of the School of Psychology) for an academic request for data from Prof. Lewandowsky’s paper – NASA faked the Moon Landings, therefore [climate] science is a hoax. An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science.

I had contacted Professor Lewandowsky (and co-authors) and I had had a reply from him referring all my requests/concerns regarding this paper to the University of Western Australia. (see here)

Instead of a response from the School of Psychology I  received an email from Vice Chancellor Paul Johnson, which copied UWA’s legal counsel.. (here)

so here is my reply to Paul Johnson and UWA:

Dear Professor Johnson

Thank you for your acknowledgment of the request for data (so that I may submit a commentary to Psychological Science) that I made to Professor Maybery.

I was a little surprised to receive a response from yourself (instead of Professor Maybery) as I do not believe that we have corresponded before, and it is possible you may not be completely briefed on all of the issues.

I believe that I have established an error in the methodology of the paper – NASA faked the moon Landings [therefore] climate science is a Hoax – Psychological Science, which impacts on a key claim of the paper.

I have contacted both the journal and lead author informing them of the potential error, which I believe are the proper channels in the first instance.

I have requested this data to be able to see if there is any evidence in the data that I am wrong.

At the journals suggestion, I approached Professor Lewandowsky (lead author), reporting my concerns and requested this data. I believe I copied relevant (not numerous) academic parties, the co-authors, and relevant Head of Departments and academics at the universities concerned, including Professor Maybery.

Professor Lewandowsky responded to me via a Bristol University representative, stating that he did this work at the University of Western Australia and that any concerns should be raised with the University of Western Australia.

I subsequently wrote to Professor Mayberry for this academic request, so that I may may formerly submit a commentary to be reviewed by the journal Psychological Science.  Thus, I merely ‘repeated’ my request to Professor Maybery because the lead author of the paper had referred me to the University of Western Australia.

Thus, I am a little surprised to receive a response from yourself and a little surprised and concerned to find that you have copied the University of Western Australia’s  General Counsel on this email.

May I ask why this was necessary for a purely academic request, as it might be perceived as a little intimidating.

I have now advised the journal of Psychological Science that my request for this data has been refused.

Please may I ask you the reasons why University of Western Australia  refused my request, and to also ask if University of Western Australia will reconsider this stance.

Best Regards

Barry Woods

—————————————————————————————–

From: Paul Johnson

Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 8:08 AM

To: barry.woods@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cc: Murray Maybery; Kimberley Heitman

Subject: request for access to data

Mr B. Woods

Via email barry.woods@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Mr Woods,

I refer to your emails of the 11^th and 25^th March directed to Professor Maybery, which repeat a request you made by email dated the 5^th September 2013 to Professor Lewandowsky (copied to numerous recipients) in which you request access to Professor Lewandowsky’s data for the purpose of submitting a comment to the Journal of Psychological Science.

It is not the University’s practice to accede to such requests.

Yours faithfully,

Professor Paul Johnson,

Vice-Chancellor

______________________________________________________________________________________ Paul Johnson  l  Vice-Chancellor Vice-Chancellery  I  M464  l  The University of Western Australia  l 35 Stirling Highway  l Crawley WA 6009 Tel  +61 xxxxxxxxx E-Mail  paul.johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx    Achieve International Excellence