4 ms·
This is just p-hacking. It's really sad that in 2018 researchers are still pumping out garbage like this. All of these toxo behavior studies have been very poor
by cultus 8y ago
This is just p-hacking. It's really sad that in 2018 researchers are still pumping out garbage like this. All of these toxo behavior studies have been very poor quality. For example, there's been a few studies purporting that folks infected with toxo have significantly higher rates of schizophrenia. However, this is false, because toxo rates differ by 2-3x between first-world countries but yet the schizophrenia rate is mostly consistent.
- api 8y agoTime constraints + hyper competitive publish or perish environment = lots of bad or low effort research to pad publication totals.
- abledon 8y agoCan someone explain the math behind the ‘p hacking’ for this study?
- yawaworhtttt 8y agoI think the best way to explain it is with this link: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/p-hacking/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/p-hacking/
- phaedryx 8y agoThank you, this is both awesome and terrible.
- mfgmfg 8y agoAlternatively, in comic form: https://xkcd.com/882/ https://xkcd.com/882/
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- chimeracoder 8y ago> However, this is false, because toxo rates differ by 2-3x between first-world countries but yet the schizophrenia rate is mostly consistent. I'm not going to say that the original studies are correct, but this is a fallacious analysis as well. You can't use broad, population-based observations (which are subject to countless possible confounding factors) to dismiss a targeted study that attempts to isolate a single cause and effect relationship.
- cultus 8y agoNo, it's not. The effect size that purportedly occurs according to this research (double-digit percentages of cases caused by toxo) would have been detectable on a population level. There would be marked differences in schizophrenia rates, but there aren't. You'd be right if small effect sizes were claimed, but that's not what's being claimed. Suppose a large portion of schizophrenia cases are caused by toxo. We know the toxo infection rate differs massively between countries, but the schizophrenia rate is consistent. Therefore, there must be another cause of schizophrenia such that its prevalence as a cause of schizophrenia is almost perfectly anti-correlated with toxo infections. More toxo infections, less of this other cause. Or there could be a correlated factor that prevents schizophrenia. Maybe having a cat, in and of itself, prevents schizophrenia. That seems extremely improbable, considering that a priori we should think that a particular amoeba causes schizophrenia is not probable.
- rockinghigh 8y agoIt could still hold if only a small percentage of schizophrenia was caused by toxoplasmosis.
- cultus 8y agoThese studies have usually showed a large effect size and a small sample. That doesn't explain it.
- nerdponx 8y agoI have seen (but not read or vetted) other studies purporting a relationship between toxoplasmosis and other mood/behavior alterations like depression. Is it all junk, or is there any merit to it?
- DonHopkins 8y agoSmells more like poop-hacking to me.