> There is no way to measurably differentiate between someone feeling good because they're microdosing, or feeling good because they had a nice day, which is why data collected in this study would largely be just noise.
i can only read this statement one of two ways:
a) you don't think that such a difference can be measured at all, which is antithetical to the entire premise of RCTs and statistical power.
b) you don't think such a difference can be measured among microdosers because microdosing is such a small effect. but this is exactly why we need the study - how else could you know that such an effect could not be measured?
the initial hypothesis that microdosing could have an effect on mood (or some other cognitive) was not some crazy unsupported idea. it had plenty of anecdotal support, i think? some mechanistic evidence, and there are plenty of other supplements which can have non-placebo cognitive effects without noticeable bodily effects. for example, caffeine has thoroughly-demonstrated improvements on alertness and attention, even at doses where many people will not feel an increased heart rate or other physical effects.
i can only read this statement one of two ways:
a) you don't think that such a difference can be measured at all, which is antithetical to the entire premise of RCTs and statistical power.
b) you don't think such a difference can be measured among microdosers because microdosing is such a small effect. but this is exactly why we need the study - how else could you know that such an effect could not be measured?
the initial hypothesis that microdosing could have an effect on mood (or some other cognitive) was not some crazy unsupported idea. it had plenty of anecdotal support, i think? some mechanistic evidence, and there are plenty of other supplements which can have non-placebo cognitive effects without noticeable bodily effects. for example, caffeine has thoroughly-demonstrated improvements on alertness and attention, even at doses where many people will not feel an increased heart rate or other physical effects.