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  "id": "nickell-levengood-skeptical-inquirer-1996",
  "title": "Levengood's Crop-Circle Plant Research",
  "description": {
    "en": "Joe Nickell, *Skeptical Inquirer* 20, no. 2 (1996): 19–21 — the principal published skeptical critique of the Levengood residual-anomaly research. Nickell, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's senior research fellow, argues that substantial methodological concerns (selection bias in case choice; soil sampling methodology; statistical controls; the substantial distinction between authentic anomalies and broader sampling effects) undermine the strong residual-anomaly claims. The article is one of the principal published skeptical engagements with the BLT research framework."
  },
  "authored_by": [
    "Joe Nickell"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Crop Circles",
    "Skeptical Inquiry",
    "BLT Research",
    "Methodological Critique"
  ],
  "stance": "critical",
  "source_type": "academic_article",
  "publish_date": "1996",
  "source_family": "criticism",
  "relation_to_wheel": "critical_context",
  "licensing_status": "licensed",
  "follow_url": "https://skepticalinquirer.org/"
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