Stellenbosch students sit in front of the educational building on main campus. PHOTO: Courtney Williams.
A paper titled “Age- and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Coloured South African women” by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU), has been retracted after it suffered a storm of criticism from various academics who were vocal in the media last week.
The editors and publishers of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition have issued a statement of retraction on Thursday which read, “While this article was peer-reviewed and accepted according to the journal’s policy, it has subsequently been determined that serious flaws exist in the methodology and reporting of the original study.
“In summary, the article contains a number of assertions about ‘Coloured’ South African women based on the data presented that cannot be supported by the study or the subsequent interpretation of its outcome. Specific data that would be relevant to these assertions was not collected. In addition, the references provided are not supportive of the claims that are made about the participants in the study or about South African women more generally.
“Consequently, the editors and the publisher have taken the decision to retract this article. We have consulted with the authors throughout this process and they have agreed with the retraction of this article.”
In a letter to the editorial board of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, Dr Barbara Boswell from the University of Cape Town, who is a research specialist in postcolonial, feminist and African literature, stated, “We write to strongly object to the publication (on March 2019) of the article ‘Age- and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Coloured South African women’ by Nieuwoudt, Dickie, Coetsee, Engelbrecht and Terblanche.”
Screenshot of Barbara Boswell’s Twitter feed. PHOTO: Courtney Williams.
“We ask that you retract it because of its racist ideological underpinnings, flawed methodology, and its reproduction of harmful stereotypes of ‘Coloured’ women,” said Boswell, who started a petition against the study, which gathered 9 823 signatures before its retraction.
According to an extract published by the researchers, the study assessed the cognitive functioning and its association with age and education in a sample of young and middle-aged Coloured South African women.
A sample size of 60 women aged 18-64 was separated into four age groups and two education groups. According to the researchers, the findings of the study concluded that an age-related decline was observed for all domains, with low scores for processing speed seen as early as young adulthood.
The final remarks from the authors conclude that young to middle-aged Coloured women display low cognitive functioning, which is significantly influenced by education.
The publication of the study catalysed an uproar from academics, such as Boswell, criticizing not only the authors but also SU as an institution for “allowing something like this to pass ethical clearance”.
Prof Jonathan Jansen, who works in the Faculty of Education at SU wrote to Times Select: “Before I even read the research report I knew this was racist nonsense not only because of the unsubtle subtitle of the journal, ‘Normal and Dysfunctional Development’. Time and time again I have come across South African research that links a medical or psychological malady to the race of a group of people defined by apartheid as Coloured or Indian or African or White.”
In an interview before the storm of social media backlash, Elmarie Terblanche, head researcher of the study, spoke to Cape Talk, where she said: “It is very unfortunate that that is the view because it was absolutely not the idea to highlight what is going on in a specific population. Rather, this is a group that is not often studied while there are similar studies on other population groups.”
SU released a media statement last week Wednesday protecting the freedom of its researchers to explore topics of their choice, which was met with even greater criticism by academics, underwhelmed by the response.
Boswell and colleagues responded to the initial statement, telling MatieMedia, “We wish to thank the Stellenbosch University (SU) for stating that they will continue to provide a platform, fund and protect such racist research. It shows that the problem is systemic and not an isolated case.
“The inability of universities to transform shows that our democracy still faces serious challenges. The statement from SU falls short in not realising the harm that racism couched as science does to these and other Coloured people, and to black people generally.
“There is no argument from us against academic freedom, but academics should not be allowed the freedom to do racist and sexist harm under the cover of science, which is in effect what the article does. We think there should be a new and close look by SU at its ethics clearance processes and what ends up being researched and published because researchers will claim they received ethics clearance. There is a disjuncture between what the statement says the study was supposed to be about and the conclusion in the published article based on the study. We spell out in our open letter to the journal our detailed objections and arguments why the ‘research’ is deeply flawed. What will the broader academic community such as the NRF, the Ministry of Higher Education and Stellenbosch do about this deception?”
The University has since released a new statement on Tuesday, which read, “Stellenbosch University acknowledges the severe trauma and anger among members of the general public, Stellenbosch communities, University stakeholders and our campus community caused by the publication of an article Age- and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Coloured South African women. This article was published in an international scientific journal on normal and dysfunctional development, Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition.”
The Rectorate has therefore decided to request a thorough investigation into all aspects of this study, guided by the SU Policy for Responsible Research Conduct, as well as the SU procedure for the investigation of allegations of breach of research norms and standards.
“Based on our own initial evidence, the University strongly supports the retraction,” says Prof Eugene Cloete, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies. “Our comprehensive investigation will nevertheless continue into all facets of the study.”
Elmarie Terblanche did not respond to inquiries.