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I have a friend who potentially contributed to the placebo effect for a study she was in. She was in a study to see if a vitamin supplement would have a benefi
by gklitz 2y ago
I have a friend who potentially contributed to the placebo effect for a study she was in.
She was in a study to see if a vitamin supplement would have a beneficial effect to a condition she suffered. She didn’t know if she was getting placebo or the supplement so after two weeks of not feeling any positive effect, she decided to start taking additional supplements of the vitamin in question on her own next to the study tablets to “be sure”. I remember choking on my coffee when she casually told me this later. I’m a scientist and it never occurred to me that anyone would act like this in a study.
- scotty79 2y agoI know about one case of dieting old lady that adhered to perscribed meal plan and avoided sweets. But she was happily snacking on sausages between the meals.
- lutusp 2y ago> [...] after two weeks of not feeling any positive effect, she decided to start taking additional supplements of the vitamin in question on her own next to the study tablets to “be sure”. If unrecorded, that would be fatal to the study's design and intent. I think you know what people are going to ask: * Did she report this change to the research program? * Was she dropped from the study? * Did the study's authors consider writing/enforcing better, clearer subject instructions after this action was (hypothetically) brought to light? And finally -- * Does she understand how science works?
- Palomides 2y agoevery scientist who tries to do dietary interventions knows this happens all the time and it's basically impossible to prevent (which is also a big piece of why the 'science' in this area is not so great) nothing will change as long as researchers get to keep publishing as they are source: did some of this myself
- yreg 2y agoWe don't need to prevent it, it's enough to convince (almost all of) the test subjects to honestly admit if they have done something like this. Is that largely impossible as well?
- atombender 2y agoSome trials are run in an isolated environment in which the participants are sequestered for the duration of the trial, including making sure subjects are chaperoned when going outside. For example, this study reported on by The NY Times [1] seems to try very hard to prevent cheating. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/well/eat/ultraprocessed-foods-diet-study.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/well/eat/ultraprocessed-f...
- deadbabe 2y agoPeople in these studies often don’t care about the science. They have selfish goals and are hoping they won’t get the placebo, because they don’t want to waste their time.
- pishpash 2y agoWhy should she care how science works? She's just getting free vitamins (maybe).
- gklitz 2y agoThe answer to all questions is no.
- kqr 2y agoBut this would "just" reduce the power of the study and not increase bias, right? It's effectively turning it into an intention-to-treat design.