What does falsification involve in research?

Falsification in research specifically refers to the act of manipulating data to create a misleading representation of results. This can involve altering or omitting data points to support a desired conclusion or to make findings appear more significant or favorable than they truly are. Such practices undermine the integrity of the research process and violate ethical standards. By changing or omitting data, researchers can distort evidence and mislead others about the validity of their conclusions, which is a severe breach of scholarly ethics.

The other options can relate to issues in research integrity but do not accurately define falsification itself. Presenting data without proper citation pertains to issues of plagiarism or intellectual dishonesty. Making up nonexistent subjects for a study represents fabrication rather than falsification, and sampling errors refer to mistakes in the process of selecting a sample, which does not necessarily involve intentional misconduct.