1. Offer extra credit for some wacky experiments with students
2. Make it clear to the experimental subjects what results you want to hear in advance
3. Complete the experiment without any rigour (blinding) and hear the results you wanted to hear
It's not at all surprising to me that a group of students sucking up to a professor for extra credit would say just what they thought the professor wanted to hear, whether they believed it or not.
1. Offer extra credit for some wacky experiments with students
2. Make it clear to the experimental subjects what results you want to hear in advance
3. Complete the experiment without any rigour (blinding) and hear the results you wanted to hear
It's not at all surprising to me that a group of students sucking up to a professor for extra credit would say just what they thought the professor wanted to hear, whether they believed it or not.