A leading scientific journal on Thursday retracted a highly publicized study reporting that attitudes toward same-sex marriage could be altered by brief face-to-face conversations with people who have a stake in the issue.

The study, published by the journal Science in December, came under question this month when a pair of graduate students trying to follow up on the work found evidence that the data had been misrepresented.

The study’s senior author, Donald P. Green, a prominent political scientist at Columbia University, asked that the study be retracted last week, after his co-author, Michael J. LaCour, a graduate student in political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, declined to furnish the raw data he had used to reach his conclusions.

Mr. LaCour did not agree to the retraction, the journal said. He could not be reached for comment.

Questions about the data were first reported by Retraction Watch, a blog covering scientific research.