Krestin, Possible Fraud Case

[The following text is an example or "case" that can serve as a starting point for reflection and discussion. Some examples may be based on real events, while others are fictional representations.]

A highly skilled researcher has helped elevate their field to new heights. Let’s call this researcher Krestin (you may choose to imagine Krestin as either male or female). Krestin has reached the top of the global academic community in their field, earning great prestige and respect. At some point, however, Krestin is tempted to produce even more impressive results than before. This is achieved by fabricating data. Krestin is so skilled that the fabricated data appear credible within the field, and initially, no one suspects anything. However, other laboratories worldwide attempt to replicate Krestin’s research as part of their own knowledge development. These labs, naturally, fail to reproduce the results that Krestin claims to have obtained. Over time, other researchers request more details from Krestin, but regardless of how Krestin responds, these groups remain unable to replicate the findings.

Now, imagine you are one of Krestin’s PhD candidates or master's students. You are conducting a significant portion of the research that your supervisor publishes, and you have discovered discrepancies between the results you helped generate and the data published by your supervisor.

There is, however, a complication. Your supervisor collaborates with several others, and you do not know all of them well. Your supervisor now claims that the elements in an article that you suspect are fraudulent originated from these other collaborators.

What do you do?

Note: This is a translation of the Norwegian original text by Johanne Svanes Oskarsen.