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Aren't they equivalent in their potential to allow post-hoc data mining? Whether it's a clinical trial, or a psychological study with n participants, or a look
by function_seven 8y ago
Aren't they equivalent in their potential to allow post-hoc data mining?
Whether it's a clinical trial, or a psychological study with n participants, or a look at how changes in x soil conditions affects the y tree. Anything where data samples are taken and statistically analyzed is prone to p-hacking and after-the-fact hypothesis changes.
This example happens to be for a narrow set of studies: clinical trials for cardiovascular drugs/supplements. The take away from that graph applies broadly.
- L_Rahman 8y agoAnd in fact the replication crisis in psychology suggests that the practice goes beyond just clinical trials.
- gaius 8y agoThe replication crisis in every field of science. Two-thirds of reported results cannot be reproduced.
- dwd 8y agoIf you haven't read it already, this article on the placebo effect a few days ago was interesting in how we on one hand use it as a baseline for measuring the effectiveness of drug treatments but actually can vary wildly between individuals. It's not surprising that results are so inconsistent. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18398342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18398342