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> Gold standard. In the domains of psychological and psychiatric assessment, there are precious few, if any, genuine "gold standards." Essentially all measures,
by Alex3917 9y ago
> Gold standard. In the domains of psychological and psychiatric assessment, there are precious few, if any, genuine "gold standards." Essentially all measures, even those with high levels of validity for their intended purposes, are necessarily fallible indicators of their respective constructs.
The reason we refer to double blind trials as being the "gold standard" isn't to imply that they have some level of validity, but because they were popularized by Harry Gold.
- tlb 9y agoThis guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gold. Citation needed.
- Alex3917 9y agoDifferent guy, I meant the Cornell professor: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714297/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714297/ https://books.google.com/books?id=wk-OxcTKyi4C&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=gold+standard+named+after+%22harry+gold%22&source=bl&ots=AXrPH2ypGm&sig=_cy8sz_s8L2OL3a-9jHnB-Xwl_8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMv5WQ0sfYAhXLRt8KHbVUB14Q6AEINTAC#v=onepage&q=gold%20standard%20named%20after%20%22harry%20gold%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=wk-OxcTKyi4C&pg=PA105&lpg=...
- FalcorTheDog 9y agoDo you have a source for that? Whether he popularized them or not, that's not where the expression comes from.
- Someone 9y agoWouldn’t it be the “Gold standard”, then?
- codingdave 9y agoThe reason this list exists is to discourage phrases that are, among other things, misunderstood. So your argument that people don't understand the reference simply strengthens the case against using the phrase.
- barrkel 9y agoI'm pretty sure "gold standard" is used metaphorically with reference to the monetary standard to mean "ideal standard".