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I know you want this to be true given your stated disatisfication with the current state of attention deficit medication, and I know that arguing about statisti
by philipodonnell 9y ago
I know you want this to be true given your stated disatisfication with the current state of attention deficit medication, and I know that arguing about statistics seems pointless, but this is n=40 (21 test 19 control). No matter how good your p-values are or how many different tests you run, there's just nothing to take away from this right now.
That is not to say its worthless. If there are a number of repeated similar trials by different researchers and this study is combined with those in a larger meta-study that continue to show significant results, then it could end up being a very important study to look back on.
But right now its just 40 people eating refined turmeric and taking memory tests...
- vanderZwan 9y agoYeah, I'm aware of my own bias. But maybe I phrased myself badly: it's not that I think that arguing about statistics is pointless, it's that this discussion often feels like it becomes disconnected from the paper at hand. The replies to my complaint are nice counterexamples of that, though.
- philipodonnell 9y agoMost discussions about research findings are like that and HN is probably no exception. :-) "The sample size is too small" or "they didn't control for [x] effect" are the sort of gut armchair comments people make offhand, knowing it probably applies to any study if you get challenged. I assume that's the sentiment you reacted to and I agree it can be frustrating.