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They state the point at the end, and it's serious point: if you were inclined to use "science" to argue against a certain intervention that some group believes
by satisfice 3y ago
They state the point at the end, and it's serious point: if you were inclined to use "science" to argue against a certain intervention that some group believes in, you could do a randomized trial of that intervention, but manipulate the conditions so that the intervention is unlikely to help. The study would look right and sound right to some people. It would use all the best practices. And yet it would be a bullshit study.
I suppose an example would be comparing the death rates of people who'd been on a statin drug for a few weeks to those who weren't on the drug at all. You'd probably find no different in morbidity, which might suggest that statins don't do anything.
- eviks 3y ago> manipulate the conditions so that the intervention is unlikely to help > [The study] would use all the best practices You've go some major contradiction here, since when is such manipulation "the best practice"?
- Vecr 3y agoWell, is giving 50% of people placebo parachutes and having them jump out of a plane at altitude considered best practices?
- satisfice 3y ago"Best practices" is always bullshit, man. It's a marketing term, not an engineering or a science term. Any practice is bad or good based on the context and purpose for which it is applied. That's the spirit in which I used the term. In plain English: you can correctly apply certain practices that are famously powerful and acceptable, while subtly undermining them in a way people might not notice, or would happily pretend not to notice if the study fits with their political position on the matter.
- eviks 3y agoThen your supposedly serious point resolves to a tautology "people can bs if they do bs". Duh! This conveys nothing re. any scientific technique or using that in arguments against some intervention
- satisfice 3y agoI am explaining the point of the paper. If you don’t think a parody based on that point is useful, maybe take it up with the take it up with the authors, Duh!