Thursday, September 08, 2016
Coulda hada experiment
Using stats in a situation that CAN be turned into real science.
Researchers at Manchester University spent months tracking thousands of people who suffer from conditions like arthritis, back pain and migraines to see if their symptoms got worse in good or bad weather. The participants who were based in Leeds, Norwich and London - reported that as the number of sunny days increased from February to June, the amount of time they experienced severe pain fell.Missing an obvious chance for a proper experiment. Take several of the people who report changes. Keep them in a tightly sealed chamber for a day or so. During the day, raise and lower light, pressure, and humidity in out-of-phase cycles, so that every combination of values and especially every combination of DELTAS gets hit at some point. Distract the people with a task, and have them report their pain at regular intervals.
Labels: Blinded by Stats
¶ 2:27 AM
