Confirmation Bias: Elusive Republican Scientists

The mystery of the missing Republican scientists is a nice study in confirmation bias. The anti-science Republican meme has become so pervasive that a 2009 study which appears to show that only 6% of scientists are Republican is accepted uncritically by media and bloggers alike. A more likely explanation is simply that the study design failed to survey a representative sample of the scientific community. Just because Republican scientists don't subscribe to Science magazine doesn't mean they don't exist.