This is what was so frustrating to me about working in medical research.
>- They claimed they used 800 studies but they actually only used 18...
I hate this, it happens all the time. Basically, say, 20 studies, which each reference other studies. Group all the references, remove the duplicates, add 20, and BAM! 800 studies!
What's worse, if you take the time to read through the studies, related papers, and data, you'll find ridiculousness. Circles of "peer reviewers", who clearly either never read the papers they reviewed, or are not as good at advanced math as I am. (I choose to believe they never even read the papers, because I'm not the smartest guy in the world.)
Data that doesn't match conclusions.
Oftentimes you won't find a single replication of a given study.
And on and on and on.
It was hard out there for a pimp.
>- He thinks a number of the people made up their minds before they even arrived ..
I can guarantee you this happened. Having said that though, it's important to remember in situations like the ones the podcast describes, that people have their minds made up "for" and "against". Believe it or not, it's a lot like liberals and conservatives in that, they don't really care what the data says, they're going to do whatever ridiculous thing they want to do in any case. Which frustrated me to no end. I mean, in politics, OK, that's the way things work. Fine.
But in science? I was just like, man, what are you people doing?
>- They claimed they used 800 studies but they actually only used 18...
I hate this, it happens all the time. Basically, say, 20 studies, which each reference other studies. Group all the references, remove the duplicates, add 20, and BAM! 800 studies!
What's worse, if you take the time to read through the studies, related papers, and data, you'll find ridiculousness. Circles of "peer reviewers", who clearly either never read the papers they reviewed, or are not as good at advanced math as I am. (I choose to believe they never even read the papers, because I'm not the smartest guy in the world.)
Data that doesn't match conclusions.
Oftentimes you won't find a single replication of a given study.
And on and on and on.
It was hard out there for a pimp.
>- He thinks a number of the people made up their minds before they even arrived ..
I can guarantee you this happened. Having said that though, it's important to remember in situations like the ones the podcast describes, that people have their minds made up "for" and "against". Believe it or not, it's a lot like liberals and conservatives in that, they don't really care what the data says, they're going to do whatever ridiculous thing they want to do in any case. Which frustrated me to no end. I mean, in politics, OK, that's the way things work. Fine.
But in science? I was just like, man, what are you people doing?